24 



taken from the stomach of a tiger a large bit of the scaly hide of 

 (Manis pentadactyla) the Pangolin or Ant-eater. (Jerdon, page 314, 

 and page of these notes.) 



The brute was a " man-eater," which may account for his having 

 taken to this strange diet, finding it like human flesh, more easily 

 procured than beef or venison ; to obtain either of which, an iron 

 bullet, that had lodged just above one of his fore-paws, must have 

 for some time made no easy feat ; he had quite recovered however, 

 and notwithstanding the idea that man-eaters are in bad condition, 

 was fat and sleek as a well-groomed horse. 



I have often heard doubt thrown on the statement made in the 

 " Old forest Ranger," (I mean Colonel W. Campbell's well known 

 work, not the Old Shikarry's) and referred to at page 96 of Jerdon, 

 that a tiger is sometimes driven into a net and speared ; about this 

 I know nought, but near Groomsoor I saw three full-grown bears 

 run into a net that had been placed across one side of a wood we 

 were beating, and all get so entangled that they might easily have 

 been speared had a fit weapon been at hand ; instead of this they were 

 very unfairly shot ; the noise they made can be better imagined than 

 described. A net that could hold three bears, might puzzle a tiger. 



I have to apologize for recording a deed so unsportsman-like and 

 so worthy of the vilest poacher : but in justice to my comrade and 

 myself, I must explain ; that neither of us had an idea of what was 

 going to happen, nor have I ever seen nets used except by this gang 

 of beaters. 



" Toiles" were however considered orthodox aids to sport until 

 even the end of last century. Some old books I have, viz : the 

 " Gentleman, Citizen and Countryman's Pleasant and Profitable 

 Recreations," published in 1697, and " Healthful Amusements and 

 " Ingenious Exercises or the Nobleman's Pocket Companion" of a 

 " later date," have no shame in recommending them ; while in a 

 series of seventy excellent plates of the " British Sportsman," by 

 Samuel Hewlett, No. 10, drawn in 1798. " Toiling a buck," repre- 

 sents a fallow stag running into just such a net as I have mentioned. 



We all know the stealthy movements of a cat and how wonder- 

 fully fitted to the habits of the creature is the beautiful mechanism 



