384 CARNIVORES: 



man-eating, and has discovered how easily its victims are killed, it appears that it 

 ever afterwards hunts the same kind of prey, although only some individuals 

 confine themselves to this kind of food. Those tigers which are entirely or mainly 

 man-eaters inflict fearful havoc on the unfortunate natives among whom they have 

 taken up their quarters ; an average native of India, as Sir Samuel Baker remarks, 

 forming by no means a hearty meal for a tiger. 



All who have had to do with them are unanimous as to the extreme wariness 

 and caution of man-eaters, which from this cause are the most difficult to kill of 

 all tigers. The slightest rustle or whisper on the part of the pursuer is, according 

 to Mr. Sanderson, sufficient to put the man-eater on its guard ; and it is marvellous 



THE STRUGGLE IN THE STREAM. 



with what sagacity these animals distinguish between an armed sportsman and a 

 helpless unarmed native. " The man-eater," says Sir Samuel Baker, " will seize an 

 unsuspecting native by the neck, and will then drag the body to some retreat in 

 which it can devour its prey in undisturbed security. Having consumed the hind- 

 quarters, thighs, and more fleshy portions it will probably leave the body, and will 

 never return again to the carcase, but will seek a fresh victim, perhaps at some 

 miles distance, in the neighbourhood of another village." 



