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CARNIVORES. 



world -wide reputation of the Bengal tiger whether those inhabiting the 

 warmer regions are its most magnificent examples. In spite of this, the tiger 

 is so intimately associated with and characteristic of India, that it will always 

 and rightly be regarded as the special emblem of that country. Mr. Blanford 

 believes that the absence of the tiger from Ceylon may be taken as an indication 

 that the animal is a comparatively recent immigrant into Southern India, since 

 most of the other Indian Mammals are found on both sides of the Straits 

 of Palk. 



Although in some of the more thickly populated districts of India, especially 



THE BENGAL TIGER (^ liat. size). 



those well supplied with railroads, such as parts of Bengal, the Central Provinces, 

 and Bombay, tigers have greatly decreased in numbers, or have well-nigh or 

 completely disappeared, in the wilder and more sparsely inhabited districts they 

 are often still abundant. Indeed, wherever large tracts of forest and grass jungle 

 remain in India, there tigers are to be found in more or less abundance. 



In the fever-stricken swamps and islands forming the so-called sandarbans of 

 Lower Bengal, tigers are especially common ; as they also are in the forests of 

 Burma and Assam. Formerly, Sir Samuel Baker tells us, they were to be met 

 with in the grassy islands of the Bramaputra, but the navigation of that river 

 by steamers has led to a large reduction in their numbers. In the forests 

 flanking the easterly Himalaya, and known as the Terai, tigers still abound ; and 



