JUNGLE LORE 207 



useful accomplishment ; and fewer still who would risk 

 losing a tiger by trying the left-shoulder shot. The higher up 

 the tree you sit the more difficult will be the shot ; ten feet 

 gives an easy shot, but the tiger, who can rear up to this 

 height, will be able to reach you there if he gets to close 

 quarters through mischance or bungling. Twelve to fifteen 

 feet is the most usual height for tiger. A great deal has been 

 written on the subject of the jumping powers and climbing 

 powers of the tiger. He can leap up a certain height, and 

 more especially should the lower parts of the stem have 

 knobs and excrescences upon it (a not uncommon thing in 

 parts of India), enabling the animal to get a purchase for 

 his feet. By this means, and if the trunk were bent to one 

 side from the vertical a little, a tiger could probably ascend 

 to fifteen feet if charging and furious, and might succeed 

 in pulling one down. But a tiger is far too heavy an animal 

 to be able to climb, and in this respect is unlike the panther. 

 That a tiger can reach up nine or ten feet is evidenced by 

 the claw marks one sees in the bark of trees long scratches 

 made by the nails when the animal is stretching himself. 



One occupies the machan in the afternoon, proceeding 

 there quietly an hour before there is any chance of the tiger 

 moving from his retreat. Success will now depend on the 

 tiger coming back to the kill. If he 'has the least suspicion 

 that anything is wrong or unnatural about the surroundings 

 he will, after reconnoitring, make off. If he arrives it may 

 be after dark, and should the moon, on whose fitful light one 

 is depending for the shot, become overcast, one will hear the 

 beast at his meal but a shot will not be possible. It is no 

 use firing at the sound. We have all done that in the days 

 of our inexperience ; sat in agonized suspense for the rest 

 of the night perhaps, and found nothing in the morning. 

 But if one has not disturbed him a second chance will be 

 offered, for the tiger returns to his kill till he has consumed 

 all he cares for, and a second night's sitting may give 

 one the prize. If it is remembered that almost from the 

 moment the tiger has killed until the time at which he moves 

 off, replete from the remnants he has no use for, his whole 

 actions are known to and watched by the bulk of the animal 

 community in the neighbourhood, and that this knowledge 

 on their part is loudly proclaimed to all, it will become 

 obvious that the tiger's whereabouts will not be difficult to 

 ascertain. The tiger is not a pretty feeder. He bites and 



