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CAT. 



lion ; and consequently, that he is much more an 

 animal of chase. 



The name Tiger, in the Armenian language, means 

 an arrow or javelin, and the Hindoo word Tipftoo, 

 which is the general name of the tiger in the East 

 Indies, has much the same signification, as it imports 

 "that which rushes impetuously and irresistibly." 

 The river Tigris is so called from the swift and 

 arrow-like rush of its current ; and it is not uncom- 

 mon in India to give the name of Tippoo to bold and 

 relentless warriors, of which Tippoo Sahib was an in- 

 stance ; and it is worthy of remark, that while Tippoo, 

 or the Tiger, is the name for a great warrior or a 

 powerful chief in the southern parts of India, Singh, 

 or the Lion, is the name for the same sort of person- 

 age in the northern parts. This difference of name 

 is important, as pointing out the geography of the 

 animals ; the epithet Singh being used only to the 

 north of the central height and the Nerbudda, and 

 the epithet Tippoo only to the southward ; thus 

 marking the tiger as a more southerly and easterly 

 inhabitant than the lion, and also the inhabitant of 

 more fertile districts, though tigers are occasionally 

 met with in the country of the lions, and lions, 

 though more rarely, in the country of the tiger. 



The length of the tiger is rather more in propor- 

 tion to the whole size of the animal than that of the 

 lion, and the tail is also rather longer ; the length of 

 the body sometimes exceeds nine feet, and the tail is 

 about five feet in length ; the legs are rather shorter, 

 and the animal bends them more, and has more of the 

 snake-like flexure of the spine when he walks. The 

 head is less square than that of the lion, the features 

 are not so grim and formidable to appearance; the 

 cheeks appear much more rounded, which is in part 

 owing to the thick fur with which they are covered, 

 and the absence of the eyebrows and the mane cause 

 the animal to look less ferocious than the lion, 

 though, in reality, he is equally so, if not more. The 

 absence of the eyebrows and mane indicate a differ- 

 ence of habit in the animal, and this difference is 

 farther pointed out by a difference in the structure 

 and appearance of the eyes themselves. The shaggy 

 mane of the lion defends him, as already observed, 

 from the great changes of temperature to which the 

 nature of his haunts exposes him ; and as, during the 

 dry season, even the bushes among which he resides 

 afford him but little shade from the rays of the per- 

 pendicular sun, the projecting brow makes up the de- 

 ficiency. The richer vegetation and more expanded 

 foliage in the haunts of the tiger, render those pro- 

 tections unnecessary in his case; and thus, as nature 

 is never redundant any more than she is defective, 

 the tiger is not furnished with these. The pupil of 

 the lion, which, when he ranges in the strong light, 

 which he seldom does in exposed situations, contracts 

 to a circle even in its greatest contractions ; but that 

 of the tiger, though round when distended, and even 

 when moderately open, closes to an oval and almost 

 to a short line in very strong light. This form of the 

 eye enables the tiger to see above him when he 

 springs upward, and below as he descends'when he is 

 bounding through the tall grass Bf the jungles, and 

 thus his whole muscular exertion is, on these occa- 

 sions, left to the general movement of his body. In 

 consequence of this consent of the whole body to the 

 one species of action, the tiger is, according to a 

 very general law in animal mechanics, enabled to 

 bound through the jungle a long time without being 



fatigued, though the character of its vegetation re- 

 quires that each bound should be taken very high, 

 arid for a distance proportionally long. The flexi- 

 bility of the joints, and the readiness with which the 

 spinal column arenas and extends itself in accompani- 

 ment to the legs, tend greatly to lessen the labour of 

 the tiger's march in these places, and thus the tiger 

 can keep in motion for miles, in situations where the 

 lion, notwithstanding all its strength, would be ex- 

 hausted by a march of a single fnrlong. 



The ground colour of the upper part of the tiger 

 is straw yellow, of much richer tint than that of the 

 lion, arid passing into pure white on the under partj 

 the whole is beautifully marked with cross bars of 

 black, of a spindle shape, or broader in the middle 

 than at the ends ; and, where they run to consider- 

 able breadth, the middle of them is often relieved by 

 a narrow streak of paler tint, sometimes approaching 

 to the yellow of the ground colour. These markings 

 vary considerably both in number and in size in 

 different specimens, but they always contract very 

 strikingly both with the yellow and the white. The 

 ground colour of the tail is intermediate, between the 

 deepest yellow and the purest white of the body, 

 and finely, and in general very regularly annulated 

 with black. The interior of the ears, a space round 

 the eyes, the cheeks, the throat, and the muzzle, are 

 also white, and there is a white soft and thick fur 

 projecting forward on the under part of the chin. The 

 eyes, when the animal is in a state of repose, are 

 more yellowish in the tint than those of ^he lion, 

 and when it is excited, and they glare, they have 

 more of a greenish cast. The absence of brows and 

 the rounded form of the head, make the eyes stand 

 out more than in the lion; they are also more rest- 

 less, and when the animal is incensed they are pro- 

 bably more terrific. 



As the male tiger has no additional furnishing of 

 hair, excepting perhaps that on the cheeks, and the- 

 chin'is a little more produced than in the female, 

 there is much less difference of appearance, and also 

 of strength and of habits in the sexes, than there is in 

 lions. But still the tigress is, upon the whole, a milder 

 animal than the tiger, unless when she has cubs, at 

 which times she is perfectly ferocious in their defence. 

 The period of gestation in the tigress is not ascer- 

 tained with perfect accuracy, neither is it known 

 whether the duration of it may not be, in part at least, 

 modified by circumstances, though such modifications 

 can of course take place only to a very limited extent. 

 It is generally understood to last between three and 

 four months. As predatory animals are much less 

 dependent on seasonal supplies of food than those 

 which live upon vegetable matter, their breeding 

 times are not so strictly confined to definite periods 

 of the year ; and as, in the richer parts of tropical 

 countries, the difference of seasons are very slight, 

 even the birds are quite miscellaneous as to the 

 periods when they build their nests. This being the 

 case, we may naturally suppose that tigers, which 

 invariably inhabit rich places, breed indiscriminately 

 at all times of the year. We have a very striking 

 instance of this difference of breeding in the case of 

 herbivorous and carnivorous animals, and also in the 

 differences of different genera of the former in our 

 common domestic animals. The horse is pretty con- 

 stant as to breeding time, and so are sheep and cattle 

 when they are left exposed to the weather the greater 

 part of the year; but dogs and cats have no fixed 



