PROM THE " SPECTA TOR." 2 i 5 



THE COURAGE OF ANIMALS. 



[Feb. n, 



IN the Spectator of December 3ist, which, 

 although a regular subscriber to your valuable 

 paper, I only happened to see to-day, owing 

 to absence from home, I notice a reference 

 in the article entitled " The Courage of 

 Animals," to the fact that the wild dogs of 

 India attack and destroy tigers. I have no 

 personal knowledge of the matter, but I have 

 been told by an Indian officer that the modus 

 operandi of the "red dogs " is as follows : 

 Having found their tiger they proceed, not 

 to attack him at once, as might be inferred 

 from your article, but to starve him until 

 they have materially reduced his strength. 

 Night and day they form a cordon round 

 the unfortunate beast, and allow him no 

 chance of obtaining food or rest ; every time 

 the tiger essays to break the circle, this is 

 widened as the pack flies before him, only 

 to be relentlessly narrowed again when the 

 quarry is exhausted. After a certain period of 

 this treatment the tiger falls a comparatively 



