TIGER — LION— LEOPARD 1 2 9 



perhaps kill from mere bloodthirstiness ; and when one of these attacks a herd, it 

 generally kills several head. Tigresses with young are perhaps the most destructive 

 of all, possibly for the purpose of teaching their young how to kill prey. 



A tiger fired at or wounded when returning to its prey, never repeats its visit, 

 but goes in search of another victim. An animal which returns to its prey several 

 times, and takes several days to devour it, may be expected to eat carrion as well. 

 This is the case with the tiger, which, although it generally hunts living animals, 

 is often satisfied with the carcases of deer and cattle which have died of wounds or 

 of some disease, and it is even said to eat the dead bodies of its own kind. 



The ordinary tiger, which feeds on venison or cattle, is the greatest coward in 

 the presence of man, and is often driven away by the animals it attacks. Bears 

 are certainly more to be dreaded than tigers, and, with the exception of man-eaters 

 and those that have been wounded, the most dangerous tigers are females with cubs, 

 or sometimes hungry individuals when about to eat their prey. 



Tigers become man-eaters when they are fat, heavy, and old, or have become 

 crippled from a wound, or are tigresses with cubs, where deer are scarce ; and it is 

 significant that man-eaters are generally found in districts which are visited by 

 herds of cattle only for part of the year. Once a tiger has conquered its innate fear 

 of men it will continue to attack them, although it seldom confines itself to human 

 prey only. Man-eaters generally become more cunning than other tigers, and it is 

 such animals that give rise to the stories which make out the tiger to be the most 

 formidable of all wild beasts. The most remarkable of these stories is one common 

 all over India, namely, that the spirits of men killed by a tiger are its servants 

 afterwards, sitting on its head and not only warning it of danger but helping it to 

 destroy other human beings. Considering these superstitions, it is not surprising 

 that tigers themselves, or images representing them, are objects of worship among 

 many Indian tribes, that in former times oaths were sworn on a tiger-skin in 

 Indian tribunals, and that various parts of the body, as, for instance, the front 

 teeth, claws, and whiskers, are kept as amulets and charms. 



A tiger may reach a considerable age ; one was known to visit a certain group 

 of villages for twenty years, and, beyond growing a little lighter in colour, showed no 

 sign of old age when killed. The limits of a tiger's life have not, however, been 

 ascertained, except in the case of captive specimens which afford no certainty as 

 to what obtains in the wild state. 



Tiger-cubs are sometimes born in captivity, but the species does not breed in this 

 condition so readily as the lion, whose cubs, moreover, are much more easily reared. 

 The second large cat of the Old World, the lion (F. leo), is now 

 exterminated in India except in the Gir Forest of the Kathiawar 

 district of Gujarat, where it is now exceedingly rare, and is protected by Govern- 

 ment. As it is now almost entirely an African animal, it may be more appropriately 

 dealt with among the fauna of the southern continent ; and it is therefore only 

 necessary to add that the Indian lion constitutes a local race (F. leo gujratensis), 

 characterised by the poor development of the mane. 



The leopard (F. pardus) comes third on the list of Indian cats, 



8 ° Par ' and next in size to the tiger. Great difference in the size of leopards 

 is noticeable, but speaking generally, it may be said that the length, measured from 



vol. 11. — q 



