60 FELID.E. 



of a male tiger 9 feet 7 inches long measured 13 inches in extreme 

 length, 12 in basal length, and 9 in breadth across the zygomatic 

 arches ; that of a large Nepal tigress 10 inches in extreme length by 

 7'8 in zygomatic breadth. But an enormous skull from Purneah 

 measures according to Sterndale 15*25 by 10-5. Sanderson found a 

 bulky, well-fed male tiger to weigh 25 stone (350 Ibs.), and Elliot 

 gives the weight of t,\vo large male tigers as 360 and 380 Ibs., and 

 of a large tigress 240 Ibs. Forsyth gives much higher weights, 

 but it is not clear whether he actually weighed the animals. 



Distribution. Throughout India, Burma, and other parts of 

 South-eastern Asia, Java, and Sumatra, but not Ceylon, nor, it is 

 said, Borneo. The tiger occurs in suitable localities throughout a 

 great part of Central Asia, and is found in the Valley of the Amur, 

 the Altai Mountains, around Lob Nor in Eastern Turkestan, 

 about the Sea of Aral, on the Murghab near Herat, on the 

 southern coast of the Caspian (Hyrcauia), and in the Caucasus, 

 but not in Tibet, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, or Persia south of 

 the Elburz Mountains on the Caspian. 



In India tigers still occur wherever large tracts of forest or 

 grass-jungle exist; but within the last 20 or 30 years the number 

 of these destructive animals has been greatly reduced, and they 

 have now become scarce, or have even in some cases disappeared 

 entirely in parts of the country where they formerly were common. 

 This has been the case especially throughout a large area of the 

 Central Provinces, in many parts of Bengal, and several districts 

 of the Bombay Presidency. In the forests at the base of the 

 Himalayas tigers are common, and they ascend the hills occasionally 

 to an elevation of 6000 or 7000 feet, but none are found in the in- 

 terior of the mountains. The species is entirely wanting through- 

 out Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the other countries due west of 

 India, and is only found in a few places in Upper Sind and the 

 western Punjab. It is wanting in Lower Siud and Cutch. To the 

 eastward, in Assam and Burma, tigers are generally distributed. 



The absence of tigers in Ceylon would seem to indicate that this 

 animal has only recently migrated into Southern India, more 

 recently than most of the other mammals, the majority of which 

 are found on both sides of Palk Straits. 



Habits. For a full account of the habits of tigers, on which more 

 has been written than probably on any other wild animal, reference 

 may be made to numerous works by Indian sportsmen. Foremost 

 amongst these are Sir J. Fayrer's ' The Royal Tiger of Bengal,' 

 Sterndale's 'Seonee'and 'Natural History of Indian Mammalia,' 

 Forsyth's admirable ' Highlands of Central India,' Sanderson's 

 equally accurate ' Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of 

 India,' and McMaster's ' Notes on Jerdon's Mammals of India.' 

 The first gives an account of the tiger in the grass-jungles and 

 swamps of the Gauges valley, the second and third describe the 

 animal haunting the forests of the Central Provinces, the fourth 

 writer's experience was mainly gained iu Mysore, and that of 

 the fifth in the hills of Southern India. 



