THE BIOGRAPHY OF A TIGER 45 



bidding. He goes hungry or luxuriates in easy circum- 

 stances at the nod of Fate. 



In the Melghat there were no spotted deer the tiger's 

 favourite dish but sambar and hog abounded, and these 

 formed ti\t piece-de-resistance vi his large and varied menu. 

 In the more retired parts of his domain great tracts of 

 hill jungle far removed from the presence of man there 

 still roamed in herds the mighty bison ; and if indeed the 

 formidable mountain bull himself defied any but the 

 largest and hungriest tiger, there was often a calf or a 

 young cow to be picked up when straggling from the herd. 



Towards the more open jungles bordering on the culti- 

 vated lowlands he found the nilgae provider of a satisfy- 

 ing and bulky meal and here he sometimes met his 

 cousin the leopard. 



Thus some five years rolled by, and the tiger attained 

 to the full size and strength of his magnificent prime. 



Already had he fought for the possession of his young 

 tigress a ghastly strife ; waged through a long moonlight 

 night, and striking the affrighted jungle dumb with its 

 fearful pandemonium of moaning, groaning, and sudden 

 terrific roars. His wanderings had in their time led him 

 over hundreds of miles to distant jungles. Now he had 

 once more found his way back to the haunts of his youth, 

 and become one of the recognised features of its solitudes. 



His headquarters were situated on the line of the same 

 old jungly Sfpna, but his regular beat extended over 

 many long miles of the neighbouring hills and glens ; and 

 in days of parching hot weather he would temporarily 

 shift his quarters to the higher ranges. 



A tiger of the heavy, continuous, well-watered forests, 

 his was the life of a great wanderer, a beast now here, 

 now there, and thereby almost immune from the dangers 

 which threaten felines inhabiting less favoured localities 

 and restricted to certain well-known coverts. 



Yet had dangerous experience not entirely passed him 



