THE TIGER 385 



tigresses over tigers. Tigresses appear to breed at all times of the year; young 

 cubs having been taken by Mr. Sanderson in the months of March, May, and Octo- 

 ber. Tiger cubs, which require a period of about three years to attain maturity, 

 remain with the tigers for the greater part of that time; and, as already mentioned, 

 when several adult tigers are found together, the party is a family one. Mr. San- 

 derson is of opinion that the tigress does not breed oftener than once in two years; 

 while from the circumstance that the cubs do not attain maturity till that period, 

 Forsyth considered that once in three years was the minimum. In captivity tigers 

 breed much less freely than lions, and the cubs are far more difficult to rear. Al- 

 though when caught young tigers can be easily tamed, they are more intractable 

 than lions when taken at a later age. 



The food of individual tigers varies greatly, according as they frequent unin- 

 habited or populous districts. The typical jungle tiger lives chiefly upon the vari- 

 ous species of deer, wild pigs, and antelopes; but it will kill domestic cattle, 

 and will also eat porcupines, monkeys, peafowl, and other small animals. 

 Although full-grown buffalo and gaur are usually a match for it, young or feeble 

 individuals not unfrequently fall victims to its attack; and instances are recorded of 

 young elephants being killed and eaten. Adult bull gaur are, however, occasionally 

 killed by tigers ; the latter, according to the report of native herdsmen, inducing 

 the bulls to charge time after time, when they are wounded as they pass by a blow 

 on the flanks from the tiger's paw. Old wild boars will, it is said, not unfrequently 

 succeed in wounding and beating off a tiger; and the herds of buffaloes defend 

 themselves by forming in a half circle, with the bulls facing the foe. Moreover, 

 even when a calf, or a weak or sickly adult individual has been carried off, the old 

 buffaloes are reported to combine and follow the tiger and rescue the victim from 

 his clutches. Much more rarely tigers will kill and eat the Indian bear; and Mr. 

 Sanderson relates an instance of a tiger having habitually taken to killing and eating 

 those animals. That the male tiger will sometimes devour his own offspring is well 

 authenticated; and Mr. Sanderson was informed, on what he considers good authority, 

 of an instance where three tigers devoured another individual of their own species. 



The " kill " of the tiger is frequently kept until, in the hot climate of India, it 

 assumes a putrid condition; and, in addition to carrion of this nature, there is good 

 evidence that tigers will eat the decomposing flesh of animals other than those 

 killed by themselves. The tigers dwelling near villages are, unless they are man- 

 eaters, in the habit of living more or less entirely on the small native cattle, which 

 are generally, and especially in the dry season, in miserable condition. In Central 

 Asia, where, according to Eversmann, the tiger is abundant in the reed thickets on 

 the east bank of the Sea of Aral and the Sir Darya, as well as in the Kirghiz 

 steppes, its chief food is derived from the wild swine which inhabit those thickets, 

 and also from the herds of wild asses and saiga antelope frequenting the more open 

 country. In these districts the tiger is much dreaded by the nomadic inhabitants; 

 and it is said to attain dimensions considerably greater than those which it reaches 

 in warmer regions. 



Much misapprehension has prevailed as to the mode in which tigers kill their 

 prey; the ordinary notion that they spring upon their victims from a distance, and 

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