92 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



a stately Lioness or one of our domestic Pussies. 

 Sometimes the whole family forms a single ball, and 

 each is intent upon seizing the tail of the other. As 

 they grow, the games become more serious. The lit- 

 tle ones learn that their tail is but a part of them- 

 selves and long to try their strength on something 

 else. Then the mother brings them small animals, 

 sometimes alert live ones, then those that are half- 

 expiring. These she turns loose, and the little fel- 

 lows practice upon them, in this way learning how to 

 pursue and handle their prey. Finally the mother 

 takes them along on her hunts, when they learn all 

 the tricks — the stealthy approach, the mastery of 

 their emotions, and the sudden attacks. When they 

 become completely independent of parental care 

 they leave their mother, or their parents, as the case 

 may be, and for some time lead a solitary, roaming 

 life. 



The harmful species are hunted zealously, and 



there are men who find the keenest enjoyment in 



the very danger of this sport. 



Subdivisions The classification of the Felidae is very 



of the difficult ; yet we think it proper to di- 



Cat Species. v ;d e them into the Cats proper (Felis); 

 the Lynxes (Ly?ix) ; the Cheetah (Cytiailurus) and 

 the Foussa (Cryptoprocta) of Madagascar. Atypical 

 specimen of the first group is our domestic Cat and 

 its most highly developed members are the Lion 

 and Tiger. The Lynxes have a shorter tail and 

 longer limbs than the Cats proper and have hair tufts 

 on their long ears. The Cheetah has longer limbs 

 and the claws are not retractile. The last family, 

 the Foussa or Cryptoprocta, has a dentition differ- 

 ing from the other groups, hairless soles and other 

 peculiarities which place it among the distant rela- 

 tives of the Civets or Viverridas, and stamp it as a 

 being similar to the first original Cat, from whom 

 the others have descended. 



THE CATS PROPER. 



We will first consider the Cats proper (Felis), sepa- 

 rating the Old World species from those of Amer- 

 ica. The striped Cats will be treated in one class ; 

 the spotted ones and those which are of a uniform 

 color in another. 



THE TIGER. 



In the group of the striped Cats the Tiger stands 

 out most prominent, for he is, after the Lion, the 

 most perfect member of the whole family. He is 

 a genuine Cat, devoid of mane, but furnished with 

 large whisker-like tufts, and shows most distinct 

 stripes on his fur. He is the most dreaded of all 

 the feline species, a foe against whom Man, even, is 

 almost powerless. No other beast of prey combines 

 such majestic beauty with so cruel a character ; no 

 other better demonstrates the truth of the fable, in 

 which the Mouse admires the Cat for its prettiness 

 and amiability. If fierceness were taken as a stand- 

 ard, he would be counted as first among all mam- 

 mals, for he has withstood the lord of creation as 

 no other animal has done. Instead of retreating as 

 the line of agriculture and civilization advances, he 

 finds himself attracted " by human settlements, and 

 has in some instances forced Man to retreat. He 

 does not fight shy of populous localities like the 

 Lion, who scents danger in them, but boldly opposes 

 Man, not openly, to be sure, but as a stealthy, cun- 

 ning foe. His cruelty and Man-eating propensities 

 have been greatly exaggerated ; or, at least, depicted 

 in very glaring colors. 



The The Royal Tiger {Felis tigris), also 



Magnificent called Bagh, Slier and Nahar by the 



Royal Tiger. Hindoos, and Hariman by the Malays, 

 is a magnificent specimen of the Felid;e, with a won- 

 derfully beautiful color. He is taller and more 

 slenderly built than the Lion. The entire length of 

 a full-grown male, counting from the nose to the tip 

 of the tail, is between nine and ten feet. The female 

 is about one foot, or one foot, four inches shorter. 

 The length of the tail varies from two and one- 

 half to nearly four feet. The height, at the shoulder, 

 is from three to three and one-half feet. The weight 

 of two female Tigers has been found to be two hun- 

 dred and sixteen and three hundred and seventeen 

 pounds, respectively, while two males weighed three 

 hundred and twenty-six and three hundred and for- 

 ty-four pounds. The body is longer than that of 

 the Lion, while the head has a rounder shape ; the 

 tail is tuftless, and the hair short and smooth. The 

 female is smaller and her whiskers are inferior to 

 those of the male. All Tigers inhabiting northern 

 regions are clothed during the cold season in thicker 

 and longer hair than those which are natives of the 

 tropical valleys of India. The fur shows a harmo- 

 nious arrangement of colors, and a vivid contrast be- 

 tween the light flame-color of the groundwork and 

 the dark stripes. As in all the feline animals the 

 tinge of the back is darker than that of the sides ; 

 the belly, the inner side of the limbs, the lips and 

 the lower parts of the cheeks are white. The stripes 

 are differently interspaced in individual animals, and 

 run in a slightly slanting direction from the spine 

 backwards and downwards. The tail is lighter than 

 the back and also shows darker ringlets. The whisk- 

 ers are white. The large eyes have round pupils and 

 • are of a yellowish-brown color. The young ones 

 show exactly the same disposition of color, except 

 that the ground tint is lighter. The Tiger, however, 

 shows variations in his coloring ; the ground tint 

 may be dark or light, and in a few rare cases it is 

 black or white with dingy stripes. 



So brilliantly adorned an animal would seem to 

 be very conspicuous and easily detected by the very 

 animals it pursues ; but that is not the case. I have 

 already mentioned how the coloring of all animals, 

 and the Felidae in particular, harmonizes with sur- 

 rounding objects, and I need but recall the fact that 

 the Tiger usually takes up his abode in bushes, reeds 

 and high grass. Frequently even experienced sports- 

 men entirely overlook a Tiger, as well as other ani- 

 mals that are lying quite close to them. 



Where the The range of the Tiger is wide, not 

 Tiger is being confined to the very warm parts 

 Found. f Asia, but extending over a portion 

 of that continent equal in area to the whole of 

 Europe. He inhabits the country between the 

 eighth degree of south and the fifty-third degree of 

 north latitude, being found as far north as southeast- 

 ern Siberia, which has a much colder climate than 

 has that part of Europe which lies in the same lati- 

 tude. His headquarters are India ; and thence he 

 spreads northward through China to the banks of 

 the Amoor and through Afghanistan and Persia to 

 the southern shore of the Caspian Sea. A few scat- 

 tered specimens may occasionally be found beyond 

 these boundaries, but certainly not westward to the 

 Caucasus or the Black Sea. On the Malay Islands 

 the Tiger does not live, except in Sumatra and Java, 

 and Ceylon is also free from his presence. 



Jungles rich in reeds and bushes harbor the Tiger, 

 as well as stately forests, up to a certain altitude 



