66 TIGERS. 



year round. If pigs or deer come in his way, he will vary 

 his beef diet with pork or venison, but he is a compara- 

 tively clumsy beast, and the exertion of hunting these wild 

 animals neither suits his physique nor his inclination. 



A good sized cattle-lifter will measure from nine to 

 nine and a half feet, from nose to tip of tail, and weigh 

 over thirty stone. Measurements should be made between 

 uprights, the contours of the body should not be followed, 

 but they (measurements) are bad criterions of size, for 

 many tigers of the cattle-lifter type have absurdly short 

 tails, and a small game-killer of a little over twenty stone 

 in weight, the possessor of a well-developed tail, may 

 equal in length a lusty cattle-lifter of over thirty stone, 

 that could kill and eat him. Tigresses are considerably 

 less in both weight and length, and I have on several 

 occasions won bets by backing seven feet nine inches 

 against the latter. 



A tigress generally has but two cubs, occasionally 

 three. If caught when very young they can be trusted as 

 pets up to two years old, after that they cannot be relied 

 on, although not nearly so treacherous as panthers. The 

 great difficulty in rearing them is the liability of milk 

 whether of cows or goats to curdle after they have 

 swallowed it which almost invariably kills them ; it 

 ought to be diluted with half its bulk of water, but even 

 then there is some risk. I was once staying with a friend 

 whose menagerie consisted of a nearly full-grown tigress 

 named Hani, a hunting leopard, and a bear, of which the 

 leopard was the least sociable, and the bear the most so, 

 in fact she was a regular nuisance, her attentions were so 

 marked and unremitting. She would not remain quiet for 

 five minutes, being always solicitous for caresses. She 

 had been very badly brought up, having been for more 



