374 CARNIVORES. 



Next to the absence of the mane in the male, and likewise of any tuft at the 

 extremity of the tail, the most important external difference between the lion and 

 the tiger is that of colour. The general ground-colour of the fur of the tiger is a 

 rufous-fawn on the upper part and sides of the body, but the tint may vary in 

 different individuals from pale rufous to brownish-yellow, the under-parts of the 

 body being white. This rufous ground-colour is striped transversely with black 

 throughout the head, body, and limbs, while the tail is ringed with black. The 

 ears are black, with the exception of a large white spot. These striking colours, 

 which are fully developed at birth, are brightest in young and vigorous animals, 

 gradually fading in intensity with advancing age; and it is stated that tigers 

 inhabiting forest districts are the reddest in ground-colour As rare exceptions, 

 both white and black tigers are occasionally met with. Thus a white tiger, in 

 which the fur was of a creamy tint, with the usual stripes faintly visible in 

 certain parts, was exhibited at the old menagerie at Exeter Change about the 

 year 1820. A second example of a white tiger was recently obtained at Puna, 

 India, by Major D. Robinson, of the Lancashire Fusiliers, and it appears 

 to have been a male in the prime of life; while Colonel H. H. Godwin- Austen 

 states that he has known of a third specimen. A perfectly black tiger, according 

 to Mr. C. T. Buckland, was found dead many years ago near Chittagong, on the 

 north-east frontier of India. 



With the exception of a ruff of longish hair round the neck and throat of old 

 males, which represents the mane of the male lion, the hair on the head and body of 

 the Indian tiger is generally short and thick, but it is considerably more elongated 

 and shaggy in Siberian examples. There is, moreover, a certain amount of variation 

 in the length of the hair of the Indian tiger according to the season of the year. 



The tail of the tiger, in both sexes, tapers regularly from root to tip ; its total 

 length being about half that of the combined length of the head and body. 



When describing the lion, it has been mentioned how the skull of that animal 

 can be distinguished at a glance from that of a tiger. And it may be added that 

 a tiger's skull, according to Mr. Blanford, is, on the average, even wider and more 

 massive than that of the lion. Moreover, in correlation with the more curved 

 profile of the head of a tiger, as compared with that of a lion, the skull has its 

 outline more convex, while the inferior border of the lower jaw is also straighter. 



The tiger stands lower on the limbs than the lion, and is thus proportionately 

 longer in the body. In regard to the size attained by tigers there has been even 

 more exaggeration than in the case of the lion ; this being in great part due to the 

 measurements having been taken either from skins after they had been removed 

 from the animal and pegged out on the ground to dry, or from tigers which had 

 been carried for several hours thrown across the backs of elephants, and thus 

 considerably stretched beyond their normal length. Mr. Blanford states that 

 full-grown male tigers measure from 5-J to 6J feet from the tip of the nose to 

 the root of the tail ; the length of the tail being about 3 feet. In one example, 

 whose total length was 9 feet 6 inches, the length of the head and body was 6 

 feet 4 inches, and that of the tail 3 feet 2 inches. Female tigers are generally 

 about a foot shorter in the length of the head and body than males. The height 

 of a tiger at the shoulder varies from about 3 feet to 3 feet 6 inches. 



