Game Animals of India, etc. 



the purpose of rendering it as inconspicuous as possible 

 when wandering in the gloaming in search of prey. It 

 has been remarked that a tiger shooting out suddenly 

 from the dark jungle on to an unexpecting bullock 

 appears to the spectator more like a puff of grey smoke 

 than anything else in nature, so harmoniously do its 

 colours fade into a grey when seen by the faint light of 

 early dawn or late evening. 



A less noisy, but apparently a stronger and more 

 active animal than the lion, the great striped cat of 

 Asia is represented by four local races. Firstly, there 

 is the typical Indian, or Bengal tiger (F. tigris typica), 

 a large, long -limbed, long -bodied, lithe, and lanky 

 animal, in which, with the exception of the short ruff 

 on the throat, the fur is uniformly short and somewhat 

 stiff throughout, with the black stripes (frequently 

 double) generally numerous, and the colour of the fur 

 a rich orange or rufous fawn. In the Caspian provinces 

 of Persia and the Caucasus the tigers, on the other 

 hand, run smaller and are more roughly haired ; this 

 small Persian race (F. tigris virgata) possibly entering 

 the western confines of the area treated of in this volume. 

 The Manchurian tiger [F. tigris mongolica)^ which 

 ranges into Korea, is characterised by its large size, 

 heavy build, short and thick limbs, and the length, 

 fineness, and thickness of the fur, which seems less 

 highly coloured, and may be less fully striped than is 

 generally the case in the Indian race. The head and 

 muzzle of the Manchurian tiger have likewise a 

 different appearance from those of its Indian cousin. 

 This, however, is to be expected, for, in the case of a 

 species with a wide geographical range, when there are 

 two or more local races whose respective habitats differ 

 considerably in respect to climate, it is a rule that the 

 race inhabiting the colder climate is- more heavily built 

 than the one from a hotter regiom,/^he Transcaspian 

 tiger has been described by Dr. Satunin as a fourth 

 local race, under the name of F. tigris septentrionalis. 



296 



