210 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



back between his ears, I was looking down upon him from a much 

 higher level, and that if I had been on the ground I should probably 

 have seen nothing but his head. Thus the tiger was evidently able 

 to hide himself behind any tuft of grass which was large enough to 

 conceal his head. Another remarkable thing was the position in 

 which he held his head. It was no longer in the usual attitude, 

 with the nose in the air, as when the animal is walking about ; but 

 the face was held vertically, the chin being drawn in, and the fore- 

 head pressed forward, thus displaying its black stripes and mark- 

 ings, together with the intent stare of the large eyes. This greatly 

 added to its sinister appearance. 



Williamson describes another variety of sitting up, the 

 sportsman being enclosed in a strong bamboo cage and 

 playing the part of bait himself, being armed with two or three 

 spears : 



Being accompanied by a dog, which gives the alarm, or by a 

 goat, which by its agitation answers the same purpose, the adven- 

 turer wraps himself up in his quilt, and very composedly goes to 

 sleep in full confidence of his safety. When the tiger comes, and 

 perhaps after smelling all round begins to rear against the cage, 

 the man stabs him with one of the spears, through the interstices 

 of the wickerwork, and rarely fails at destroying the tiger. 



The writer heard of an instance of this being tried by a 

 European, with a cage made of iron. Unfortunately the bars 

 were set too far apart, and the tiger got his paw through and 

 slew that adventurer. 



Williamson also narrates the old story possibly it was 

 taken from his book of tigers being caught by covering leaves 

 with birdlime ; it was told him by a Mahommedan gentleman 

 of the Court of the Nabob Vizier of Oude. Sanderson gives a 

 capital account of tiger- netting, as practised in Mysore, and 

 describes the various traps occasionally used by natives. The 

 late Maharajah of Patiala, about 1872, had a tiger that had been 

 trapped in the hills turned out on the plain outside the town, 

 he and his guests being mounted on elephants. Of course the 

 whole of the populace assembled to see the fun, forming a 

 large circle round the plain. The tiger, on being released 



