THE BENGAL TIGER. 



{Felis tigris.) 



The Bengal Tiger {Fclis tigris) inhab- 

 its the hotter regions of Southern Asia, 

 but the species is found with certain color 

 variations throughout the lower levels of 

 all Asia from Siberia to the River Eu- 

 phrates and as far south as Sumatra and 

 Java. Next to the lion it is the strong- 

 est and most ferocious of carnivorous an- 

 imals, and, on account of the heavily 

 'wooded country in which it lives being 

 densely populated, the Tiger is even more 

 destructive of human life. In Bengal 

 alone three hundred and forty-seven per- 

 sons were reported killed by Tigers in a 

 single year, and this in spite of the best 

 efforts of the government and people to 

 mitigate the evil by poisoning, hunting 

 and trapping. 



Mr. William T. Hornaday, who hunted 

 Tigers on his collecting trip in India, 

 says in his book, "Two Years in the Jun- 

 gle," that only a limited number of 

 Tigers, and those of the old and decrepit 

 sort, ever kill men at all, but once they 

 have tasted human tlesh they continue to 

 kill until some hunter reciprocates and 

 brings peace again to the ravaged district. 

 According to their habits in procuring 

 food the people of India divide Tigers 

 into three classes — the "game killer," the 

 "cattle lifter" and the "man killer." The 

 "game killer" lives in the dense forest, 

 catches his own deer and wild hogs and 

 is very self-respecting and honest, for a 

 Tiger. The "cattle lifter" is a fat and 

 lazy cat, who hangs around villages and 

 kills a steer from the herds whenever he 

 is hungry. Dragging away the carcass 

 he returns to it until it is all eaten, when 

 he kills again, while the timid and de- 

 fenseless natives flee in terror or hover 

 al)out. unable to protect their herds. It 

 is after these fat "cattle lifters" get old 

 and mangy that they turn "man eater," 

 finding it easier to catch the herdsman 

 than to drag off a bullock. Then after 

 the first taste they haunt the paths and 

 villages, pouncing upon men, women 



and children until there is no safety, ex- 

 cept within doors, until some hunter has 

 slain the foe. 



Among the English of India Tiger 

 hunting is a favorite sport. A most pic- 

 turesque and safe way is to mount on an 

 Elephant and be driven about through the 

 country beating up the Tigers from cover 

 and shooting them with the huge four- 

 bore rifles which the English sportsmen 

 afifect. The principal danger lies in the 

 stampeding of the elephant or the attack 

 of a wounded Tiger on the elephant him- 

 self. The more common way is to build 

 a shooting platform by some water hole 

 or carcass and lie in wait for the Tiger, 

 or, better yet, have a small army of beat- 

 ers drive him from his lair and past the 

 spot where the platform has been erected. 



Sometimes men who like to take 

 chances follow the Tigers on foot and 

 /shoot them where they find them, which 

 is often coming straight through the air. 

 A glance at the illustration will show 

 what powerful forearms and shoulders 

 ;the tiger has. One blow from that paw 

 will break a bullock's back, and a wound- 

 ed Tiger is more dangerous than one 

 unhurt. Unless the brain is reached or 

 the spinal column broken a Tiger will 

 not stop in his charge, and the most 

 active man can hardly avoid his clutches. 



An adult Bengal Tiger measures ten 

 feet from tip to tip, stands over three 

 and a half feet in height and weighs five 

 hundred pounds. If we consider the 

 strength, activity and ferocity of the or- 

 dinary house cat and then think of it mul- 

 tiplied a hundred times we can form 

 some conception of the Bengal Tiger as 

 he lies down by his water hole and won- 

 ders what he will kill next. 



In color the Tiger matches the foliage 

 of his native jungles. When lying in 

 grass or even upon the ground the dark 

 markings and rufous fawn colors of his 

 body blend almost perfectly with his 

 surroundings, and it has often happened 



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