THE TIGER. 271 



of the neck, and at the same time use the paws 

 to hold the victim, and give a purchase for the wrench 

 that dislocates the neck. 



Tigers that prey on cattle are generally perfectly 

 well known to the cowherds and others who resort 

 to their neighbourhood. They seldom molest men, and 

 are often driven away from their prey, after killing it, 

 by the unarmed herds. Frequently they are known 

 by particular names ; and they really seem in many 

 cases to live amonpf the villaorers and their herds much 

 like a semi-domesticated animal, though, from a mutual 

 consent to avoid direct interviews as much as possible, 

 they are chiefly known by their tracks in the river beds 

 and by their depredations on the cattle. They do not, 

 of course, confine their attacks to the cattle of a single 

 village, usually having a whole circle of them where 

 they are on visiting terms, and among which they 

 distribute their favours with great impartiality. The 

 damage they do on the whole is very great, sixty or 

 seventy head of cattle, worth from £5 to £10 apiece, 

 being destroyed by one such animal in the course of 

 a year. Generally there is at least one native in every 

 circle of villages whose profession is that of *' shikari," 

 or hunter, and who is always on the outlook to shoot 

 the village tiger. When he hears of a bullock having 

 been killed he proceeds to the spot, and, erecting a 

 platform of leafy boughs in the nearest tree, watches 

 by night for the return of the tiger, who, though he 

 may kill and lap the blood during the day, never feeds 

 before sunset. Generally he does not get a shot, the 

 tiger being extremely suspicious when approaching his 

 *' kill," and the shikc4ri3 being usually such bunglers at 

 their work as to disturb him by the noise of their pre- 



