58 FELIDJE. 



Halnts. The habits of tigers and lions are for the most part 

 similar, except that the tiger inhabits more wooded countries. 

 Both animals are mainly nocturnal in their movements, sleeping 

 in the daytime and wandering greatly in search of food at night. 

 Both are excessively powerful, and able to kill large animals, such 

 as full-grown cattle, horses, or even camels for food, and both 

 occasionally kill men, and are greatly feared by the inhabitants of the 

 country. Round animals of so ferocious a nature a series of myths 

 have naturally collected, and it is difficult to unravel the true from the 

 false in such traditions. It is not surprising that even intelligent 

 sportsmen, finding that particular classes of natives have a singu- 

 larly accurate knowledge of the haunts and habits of wild animals, 

 should not always be able clearly to distinguish which of these 

 habits have actually been observed, and which are merely traditional, 

 both being equally believed in by the narrators. 



Lions are perhaps bolder than tigers, and certainly much more 

 noisy, their habit of roaring, especially in the evening and at night, 

 having necessarily attracted the attention of all who have been in 

 countries infested by them. Of the two the tiger, though standing 

 lower, is heavier in the body, and I think the more powerful animal. 



In India lions feed chiefly on deer, antelopes, wild pigs, cattle, 

 horses, donkeys, and camels, and used formerly to kill many of the 

 latter. Whether lions usually kill their prey, as tigers do, by 

 breaking the neck, I cannot say ; in the only cow I ever saw that 

 had been killed by a lion, (in Northern Abyssinia) the vertebrae 

 were not dislocated. I also saw a lioness hold a camel by the 

 throat for some minutes, without attempting to break its neck. 



Lions are more easily tamed than most of the felines. They 

 often breed in confinement*. The period of gestation is about 108 

 days, and from three to six young (in India it is said two to three) 

 are commonly born in one litter. The eyes are open at birth. 

 Young lions want the mane, which becomes gradually developed 

 after the full growth is attained. 



29. Felis tigris. The Tiyer. 



Felis tigris, L. Syst. Nat. i, p. 61 (1760) ; Blyth, Cat. p. 54 ; Jerdon, 

 Mam. p. 92 ; D. G. Elliot, Mon. Fel pi. iii. 



Bdyh, Shcr (female BdgJmi, SJierni), H. ; Ndhar, Sela-vdyh, II. of 

 Central India; Uabr,P.; Mazar, Baluchi; Shinh, Sindhi; Padar-mh, 

 Kashmiri ; Patayat-bdyh, Wahay, Mahr. ; Go-vdyh, Beng. ; Tut, Sad, 

 Hill tribes of IJajmehal ; Gariimktila, Kol. ; Ldkhra, Uraon ; Krodi, 

 Kondh ; Kula, Sonthal, Ho and Korku ; Pali, Tarn., Tel., Mai., and 

 Gond ; Pidi-redda-piUi, Peram-pilli, Tarn. ; Pedda-puli, Tel. ; Perain- 

 pi'tli, Kiidua, Mai. ; Kuli, Can.; Ndri, Kurg; Pirri, Biirsh, Toda; Tag, 

 Tibetan ; Titkt or Tiik, Bhot, ; Sathong, Lepcha ; Keh-va, Limbii ; Schi, 

 Aka; Matsd, Garo ; Kla, Khasi: Sa, Ragdi, Tekhu, Khudi, Naga; 

 Humpi, Kiiki; Sumyo, A bur. ; Sit, Khamti; Sirong, Singpho ; Kei, 

 Mauipuri ; Misi, Kachari ; Kya, Burmese ; Kla, Talain ; Khi, Botha-o, 

 Tupuli, Karen ; Htso, Shan ; Rimau, "ffarimau, Malay. 



* For an excellent account of the lions bred in the Dublin Zoological 

 Gardens, see V. Eall, Trans. Roy. Irish Academy, xxviii, p. 7^3. 



