FELTS. 63 



victims. I have more than once seen unmistakable remains of a bear 

 that had been devoured ; and Sanderson relates an instance of a 

 tiger that was said to have taken habitually to the slaughter of bears 

 for food. Young gaur are occasionally killed, but the full-grown 

 animal is more than a match for most tigers. Instances are said to 

 have been known of even young elephants being attacked, one such 

 is mentioned by McM aster. In fact a hungry tiger will probably 

 kill any other animal he can for food. He is said to have been 

 observed catching and eating frogs ; and Mr. Simson found tigers 

 in Eastern Bengal, during inundations, feeding upon fish, tortoises, 

 crocodiles, and large lizards, and he once killed a tiger the pouch 

 of which was crammed with grasshoppers or locusts. It is not to 

 be supposed that the tiger's prey is killed without a struggle, and 

 the more powerful animals sometimes beat off their assailants, 

 whilst instances have been recorded in which large boars have killed 

 tigers that attacked them, the two having in some cases been found 

 dead together. 



Great numbers of domestic animals are killed by tigers annually, 

 and many of the latter appear to live entirely upon cattle. Oxen 

 are the ordinary prey of the cattle-eating tiger, who is often an 

 older animal than the game-killer, having become by long experience 

 more cunning and less afraid of man. Tigresses with cubs also 

 often quarter themselves upon a village and subsist in luxury on 

 the flocks and herds of the villagers. Sheep and goats are not so 

 often attacked, tigers having a distinct preference for beef, but 

 ponies, and even horses and camels, are occasionally killed. Buf- 

 faloes in a herd are fully able to defend themselves, and generally 

 attack a tiger, many incidents being recorded in which they have 

 rescued their herdsman ; but tigers often kill young buffaloes if 

 they are found away from the herd. 



There has been much discussion as to the manner in which the 

 tiger kills its prey. The popular notion was, and probably still is, 

 that the tiger springs upon its victim from a distance, and either 

 kills the animal by one blow of its paw, or tears the throat with its 

 teeth and sucks the blood. All this is certainly incorrect, so far, 

 at all events, as cattle are concerned ; small animals may perhaps 

 be killed by a blow of the paw. I have seen many oxen that had 

 been killed by tigers, and in numerous cases (always, I think, when 

 1 ascertained the point) the neck had been broken, whilst in several 

 instances, despite the marks of fangs upon the throat, the great 

 blood-vessels of the neck were untouched, and claw-marks were 

 confined to scratches on the forequarters. All these details agree 

 with the description given by Sanderson from the accounts received 

 from herdsmen. According to these, the tiger does not spring upon 

 his prey : " clutching the bullock's forequarters with his paws, one 

 being generally over the shoulder, he seizes the throat in his jaws 

 from underneath and turns it upwards and over, sometimes springing 

 to the far side in doing so, to throw the bullock over and give the 

 wrench which dislocates its neck. This is frequently done so 

 quickly that the tiger, if tirnid, is in retreat again before the herdsman 



