TIGER-SHOOTING. 183 



and dead leaves in a covert, or a grouse among 

 the heather, and has not noticed how marvellous- 

 ly their fur or plumage harmonises with the sur- 

 rounding ground ? It is the same with a tiger ; 

 his tawny, striped hide is just the same shade 

 as the dead grass and fallen leaves, amongst which 

 he is often found in the hot weather. As an 

 instance of how very close a tiger will lie, and 

 remain concealed as long as he imagines he is 

 undiscovered, I will relate the following incident 

 which occurred during the same trip as that last 

 related : 



During a beat at a place called Tandla, Hebbert 

 had wounded a large tiger, so, sending all the 

 beaters away from the cover, we posted men in 

 trees in a large circle to give us notice should 

 the tiger sneak away. There were only Hebbert 

 and myself out that day, Davidson being laid up 

 with dysentery. All arrangements being made, 

 we two mounted the elephant, and proceeded to 

 look up the wounded animal. The spot where 

 we expected to find him was a nullah about 

 twenty feet wide, and about ten or twelve feet 

 deep, and at a certain spot a smaller nullah joined 

 it. They were both without any cover in them 

 with the exception of a few tufts of stunted and 

 withered grass not big enough to conceal a hare, 

 We had carefully looked up the left bank which 



