THE TIGER 



for a man of his class to shoot deer, etc., for the 

 purpose of sale, and to occasionally shoot a tiger 

 for the sake of the reward. 



This, then, is another reason why tigers are 

 even rarer than Nature requires them to be, for, 

 owing to the scarcity of the tiger's natural food 

 which is fast being exterminated by native gunners, 

 the former are compelled to take toll of the 

 villagers' cattle, and then comes the chance of the 

 native, who, lying perdu in perfect safety in a 

 tree, watches for the return of the slayer to feed 

 upon his victim. Should the tiger so return, he 

 is either killed, wounded, or missed, and seriously 

 scared by the would-be bagger of so many rupees ! 

 I have, however, heard of a case in which the 

 ambushed native was so struck by the imposing 

 appearance of the animal, to shoot which he was 

 watching, that he was too scared to fire at all, 

 and the tiger ate the carcass before the eyes of 

 the man, who remained all night in the tree, afraid 

 to descend ! 



If Government were to abolish the reward, 

 natives would no longer have any interest in 

 shooting tigers, except, of course, any such as 

 might become great oppressors of any one village, 

 in which latter event the beasts would get very 

 short shrift. In my opinion the time has come 

 when the reward ought to be abolished, for, while 

 tigers are so rare, guns are so very common, that 

 there is no fear of any community, which might 

 surfer heavily from the rapacity of a tiger, failing 

 to take steps to rid itself of him. 



