ALERTNESS OF TIGER 



Zoo at Dublin has been for years famed as a manu- 

 factory of lions, which breed with the greatest success. 

 Even in travelling menageries the same success has 

 been attained, which is, to say the least of it, unex- 

 pected. It is unnecessary to say that the visitor will 

 find at least half a dozen lions at any given time in the 

 Zoo. 



THE TIGER 



The tiger (Felis ligris) is undoubtedly the largest of 

 living cats, and even equals the great cave lion and the 

 sabre tooths of antiquity. It shows what is rare among 

 cats, transverse striping instead of spots ; and so 

 firmly fixed in the tiger race is this plan of colour that 

 the newly born young show the same striping as their 

 parents. Often, as has been pointed out in the case 

 of the puma, the young of the carnivora show a different 

 mode of coloration to that of their parents. A careful 

 study of the stripes of the tiger shows that they are 

 not so remote from the prevailing feline spotting as 

 might appear at first sight. In many cases the bar 

 has a white or rather tawny centre, and thus suggests 

 a large spot pulled out lengthwise. The colour of the 

 Royal Bengal tiger is so very well known that it needs 

 no further comment. But there is one point of some 

 little interest to which comparatively little attention 

 has been paid. When the tiger is sleeping with its 

 head on its front paws, and its ears turned rather 

 forwards, it will be observed that there is a bright white 

 spot, with a black rim upon each ear. The effect of 

 this is to give the sleeping beast a look of alertness, for 

 the spots are not unsuggestive of eyes. The common 

 cat has something of the same kind, which has been 

 often referred to, and has been also figured. When the 

 eyes are closed the arrangement of the pattern of colour 

 above them gives the impression of a watchful and 



95 



