SHOOTING TIGERS. I93 



that there is no tint so admirably suited for the purpose as that warm 

 reddish-brown which is assumed by dried leaves. 



If a tiger be fairly traced to its ordinary lair, the sportsmen prefer to 

 lie in wait at some convenient point, and either to await the voluntary 

 egress of the quarry, or to send in the beaters and cause the animal to be 

 driven out in the proper direction. When this mode is adopted, it is 

 found best to have, besides those which are held in hand, a whole battery 

 of guns, eight or ten in number, which are laid on the ground, ready 

 loaded and cocked, their muzzles all pointing toward the spot where the 

 tiger is expected to make its appearance. It is so usual an occurrence for 

 two tigers to make their sudden appearance where only one was expectec 

 to lie, that the precaution is an absolutely necessary one. 



Contrary to the habits of most animals, which take the utmost care 

 of their young, and in their defence will expose themselves to the direst 

 peril, the mother tiger is in the habit of making her young family her 

 pioneers, and when she suspects anything wrong, of sending them for- 

 ward to clear the way. Knowing this curious propensity, the experi- 

 enced hunter will not fire upon a cub that shows itself, for the mother 

 will, in most cases, be waiting to see the result of her child's venture. 

 Therefore they permit the cub or cubs to pass with impunity, and reserve 

 iheir ammunition for the benefit of the mother as she follows her off- 

 spnng. 



Should the tiger not fall to the shot, but bound away, the hunters 

 know whether the wound is a mortal one by inspecting the marks made 

 in the ground by the feet of the retreating animal. It is a curious fact 

 that, however hard a tiger may be hit, yet, if the wound be not a rapidly 

 mortal one, the claws are kept retracted and the foot-prints show no 

 mark of the talons. But should the injury be one which will shortly 

 cause death, the tiger flings out its limbs with the paws spread to their 

 utmost, and at every leap tears up the ground with the protruded talons. 

 A very slight wound causes the death of a tiger ; the wound soon 

 becomes inflamed and covered with flies, and the poor beast dies of a 

 swarm of devouring maggots. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether 

 a tiger has been wounded ; the loose and movable skin covers the 

 wound as the creature moves away, and checks the effusion of blood. 

 The dead body of the tiger very soon decays, and if the hunters wish to 

 preserve the hide in all its beauty, it must be immediately covered 

 from the sun's rays. 

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