394 



THE CAT. 



[CHAP. xn. 



five days, and may destroy sixty or seventy head of cattle in a year. 

 The tiger very seldom kills his prey by the " sledge-hammer 

 stroke " of his fore-paw, so often talked about. His usual way is 

 to seize it with the teeth by the nape of the neck, and at the same 

 time use the paws to hold the victim and give a purchase for the 

 wrench by which the tiger dislocates its neck.* It is naturally a 

 cowardly animal, and retreats till provoked or wounded, and may 

 even be made to drop its prey by cattle rushing at it in a body. 



It will eat animals which it has not killed, and even its own 

 species, for a tiger left wounded is related to have been dragged off 

 by another tiger and partially devoured. f The tigress breeds once 

 a year, and has from two to five pups. Hybrids between the lion 

 and the tiger are sometimes produced in captivity. 



The tiger is not an arboreal animal, but delights in thickets, 

 especially near rivers. It is exclusively Asiatic, but has a very wide 

 range, extending from Turkish Georgia, Mount Ararat, Persia, the 

 Amoor land, and the island of Saghalien in the north, through China 

 (including Corea) to the south of Hindostan, and the islands of the 

 Indian Archipelago, down to Sumatra, Java, and the island of Bali ; 

 but it is not found in Borneo, nor in Ceylon. 



(3.) THE LEOPAKD on PANTHER (FeUs pardus) .$ 



This animal is very variable in size and in its markings, so that 

 some naturalists consider that there are several species, which 

 however seern ill- defined and variable. It is generally of a yellowish 

 rufous fawn colour, with many dark spots grouped in rosettes, while 

 the tail is ringed and the ventral surface is whitish. The head and 

 body are about three feet ten inches long, and the tail is about two 

 inches shorter. 



There is a well-marked variety which, though black, shows the 

 usual markings when viewed in certain lights. 



Its pupil is round. The hyoid is connected with the skull by 

 ligaments, and not by a continuous chain of bones. 



The leopard is an arboreal animal. Though so much smaller 

 than the tiger, old women and children are not unfrequently 

 killed by it. ^ 



This species has a very wide range, being found in Africa from 

 Algeria to Cape Colony, and in Asia from Palestine and Japan to 

 Ceylon and Java. 



A leopard has been described by Professor Alphonse Milne- 

 Edwards, under the name of F. Fonteirii^ and is said to be distin- 

 guishable by the shorter muzzle, longer and more copious fur, and 

 by the markings on the flanks being more like rings than rosettes. 



* Forsyte's Highlands of Central 

 Asia, p. 257. 



f Jerdon's Mammals of India, p. 94. 



See Elliot's Mon., and De Blainville's 

 Osteog., plate 8. 



Kecherches snr les Mammiferes, 

 p. 208, plates 29, 30, and 31. 



