200 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



ence goes, it must have been a sight that seldom 

 falls to the lot of any sportsman to witness. 



Everything was complete : the sportsmen, un- 

 observed themselves, looked on at the stalk, and 

 could see the stalker and its victim ; how the 

 former took every advantage of ground and cover, 

 the fascination produced on the cow by the 

 tigress's stealthy approach, the terror of her 

 fellow-kine, and then, when they were no longer 

 threatened, their selfish and utter unconcern. 

 The finale, too, was quite in keeping, and the 

 successful shots that laid the tigress low, and the 

 quiet and sportsmanlike manner in which the 

 whole affair was carried out, without hurry or 

 fuss, worthy of the actors in the sylvan scene ; 

 who were, I may safely assert, some of the best 

 sportsmen, in or out of the saddle, with rifle or 

 spear, of many that have been known in the 

 sunny land of Ind. 



There is a very prevalent notion that the tiger 

 kills his prey with a crushing blow from his fore 

 paw. This is decidedly a mistake, I think. A 

 tiger certainly does use his fore paws to strike 

 down his quarry, but the death-wound is admin- 

 istered by the teeth. The neck being seized in 

 the powerful jaws, and bent back till it is dis- 

 located. In every instance where I have had an 

 opportunity of noticing an animal killed by a 



