208 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



gnaws great chunks of flesh, including hair and skin, from 

 the carcase and gulps them down, making hideous noises 

 the while. In this respect he differs from the leopard who 

 is far more fastidious and dislikes the hair and skin of its 

 victim, removing it from the portion before feeding on it. 

 In the case of the tiger who has become a pure cattle-slayer, 

 either due to the fact that he has got fat and lazy or to 

 some injury, usually to a foot, which reduces his chances of 

 securing the alert, faster game animals, it may be unnecessary 

 to tie up " kills." As soon as a villager reports the loss of 

 an animal from his herd a search is made for the carcase 

 and a machan built over it as already described. 



Of course it is no use tying up kills in a jungle until by 

 tracking it has been ascertained that a tiger is in the neigh- 

 bourhood. An exception to this rule is made when the 

 sportsman is resident for some time in the neighbourhood 

 of a portion of an area known to be frequented by a tiger. 

 The latter will return to the locality sooner or later and 

 perhaps take the kill. In such cases buffaloes so tied up 

 will be watched by one of the local villagers told off for the 

 purpose, or one's own shikari is sent out. The latter is 

 preferable since the villager is very unreliable in this respect . 



Tigers and leopards who have taken to killing human 

 beings and feeding upon them, are known as " man-eaters." 

 Once the animals have taken to this practice they develop 

 a taste for human flesh and eat nothing else. The making 

 of a man-eater is probably usually due to the fact that 

 through injury or worn-out teeth, due to old age, the animal 

 is no longer able to kill wild animals, and finds man an even 

 easier prey than village cattle. A wound in the pad or foot 

 which results in lameness, owing to a badly placed shot, 

 may easily result in a tiger taking to man-eating. Man- 

 eaters of both species are usually thin mangy brutes and 

 develop a wicked cunning. 



Leopard. The leopard or panther is almost an animal of 

 the village, for he is continually prowling round the village, en- 

 deavouring to steal a dog, goat , baby or small pony. His ways 

 are consequently well-known to the villagers. The method 

 of sitting up for leopard has been already described at length 

 in previous pages. In all dealings with this animal, if success 

 is to be made reasonably secure and even then it is far from 

 assured, the main point to be borne in mind is the extra- 

 ordinary craftiness of the animal. Sitting up in a machan 



