FELIS. 



of three hundred and fifteen males, and 

 two hundred and seventy-five females. 

 For the lion and lioness, and their whelps, 

 see Mammalia, Plate XIIT. 



F. tigris, the tiger. This is called by 

 Linnaeus the most beautiful of quadru- 

 peds, a character which would not be 

 thought correctly applicable, were the 

 judgment on this subject to be deter- 

 mined from the skins in a museum, or 

 from a view of the animal itself, in that 

 confined state in which it must ever ap- 

 pear in this country. But in its native 

 region, and unchecked health and ener- 

 gies, it exhibits a bloom and radiance un- 

 equalled by any of the brute creation. 

 Its ground colour is an intense orange 

 colour, and defined stripes of pure black, 

 in some parts double, and in others sin- 

 gle, mark its body transversely, extend- 

 ing through the clear white of the 

 sides. It is little inferor in size to the 

 lion, and in some instances has been 

 seen even larger than any lion mention- 

 ed by travellers, extending, from the 

 nose to the end of the tail, to fifteen feet 

 in length. Of all the carnivorous tribes, 

 this species is considered as the most 

 sanguinary and destructive. It appears 

 to delight in the infliction of pain and 

 the effusion of blood. After satisfying 

 its hunger, it still continues to worry and 

 destroy. If unmolested in the enjoyment 

 of its prey, it will absolutely bathe its 

 head in the blood and entrails of its vic- 

 tim, and while exhibiting this spectacle 

 of horror, appear to enjoy that ecstacy, 

 which arises necessarily from the gratifi- 

 cation of the most impetuous and irre- 

 sistible instincts. Though frequently 

 confined, its ferocity is incapable of being 

 subdued, and those sports, or freedoms, 

 on the part of its keeper, which the lion 

 admits with impunity, if not with satis- 

 faction, would be fatal to the man who 

 should dare practise them with the tiger. 

 Tigers are found only in Asia, and attain 

 their perfection of size and beauty, and 

 their extreme degree of rapacity and 

 fierceness in India, where they commit 

 often the most dreadfnl havock, and 

 lurking among thickets, and near villa- 

 ges, assault unwary travellers as well as 

 the inferior animals ; and in districts 

 thinly peopled are the most dreadful 

 terror and plague of the inhabitants. 

 They seldom, if ever, engage in the vio- 

 lent and persevering chase of any animal, 

 but practise, almost uniformly, the mode 

 of ambush, rushing on their victim with 

 almost unerring accuracy, and making 

 those extensive bounds, which can re- 

 V, 



suit only from superlative elasticity and 

 vigour. 



The name tiger, in the language of the 

 Armenians, signifies an arrow, and aptly 

 expresses the agility of those movements, 

 by which these animals seize upon their 

 prey. The sounds which they utter in 

 this moment of seizure are stated to be 

 the most hideous and appalling that ima- 

 gination can conceive. Animals of consi- 

 derable size are not only attacked by a 

 tiger without the slightest hesitation, 

 but give no impediment from their bulk 

 to his carrying them off to some thicket, 

 where he may enjoy, in unmolested soli- 

 tude, his feast of carnage. A man, or 

 even a young buffalo, has been thus dis- 

 posed of by him with great facility, and 

 after sucking the blood of his victims with 

 the most intense application, he proceed* 

 to tear them in pieces and devour them. 

 Conflicts are reported by travellers not 

 unfrequently to occur between the lion 

 and the tiger, carried on with all that in- 

 trepidity and perseverance, with all that 

 energy and fierceness, which might na- 

 turally be expected, and ending some- 

 times only in the complete destruction 

 or mutilation of both. At Si am it is not 

 unusual for elephants to be baited by a 

 tiger, constituting a similar display of sa- 

 vage power and skill with what is afford- 

 ed in this country by a bull and dogs. 

 Two elephants, well defended by artifi- 

 cial guards on their'heads and great part 

 of their trunks, are related, in one in- 

 stance, to have been introduced to the 

 arena, where was a tiger tethered by 

 cords : one of the elephants approaching 

 it while under this extreme disadvantage, 

 struck it several heavy blows on its back, 

 and laid it motionless on the ground ; it 

 was then untied, and soon afterwards, be- 

 ing considerably recovered, it bounded, 

 with an immense spring and a most hi- 

 deous roar, at the trunk of its antagonist, 

 who parried the attempt with astonishing 

 adroitness, and, receiving the tiger on 

 his tusks, hurled it into the air. The 

 other elephant was at this time unfaiuly 

 allowed to join his companion, and eacfc 

 inflicted several severe blows on their 

 common enemy, who must have perish- 

 ed indeed, under their united efforts, if 

 the fight had not been terminated at this 

 crisis by the governor's command. 

 The boldness and vigour of the tiger 

 were sufficiently displayed, however, and 

 considering the restraints under which 

 he laboured, andl his continued combat, 

 notwithstanding the first and almost fatal 

 discomfiture, were truly admirable, 

 B 



