ii2 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



are in all cases unable to do so, but this is not 

 the case. Some tigers undoubtedly climb 

 trees, but it cannot be regarded as a common 

 habit with them as with the leopard. The 

 climbers may, of course, be particularly active 

 tigers. This is where so many of us are apt to 

 go wrong in our ideas of wild animals. We 

 do not make allowance for differences in 

 individuals. We speak of a tiger being able 

 to do this, or of an elephant as unable to do 

 that, as if the physical and mental powers of 

 every tiger or every elephant in existence were 

 precisely the same. Why no individuality? 

 Surely no one would dream of describing a boy 

 as a two-legged animal able to turn head over 

 heels or sing in tune, for, as we know, there 

 have been millions of boys unable to do either. 

 Why, then, ignore the same difference in four- 

 footed animals ? To do so in the case of 

 dangerous creatures like tigers may have 

 disastrous results. Some tigers, for instance, 

 whether actually able to climb trees or not, 

 seem able, when standing erect on their hind 

 legs against the trunk of a tree, to reach much 

 higher than others of apparently the same 

 stature. When building a machan, it is of the 

 utmost importance to ensure the sportsman's 

 safety by realising the height to which a tiger 

 can reach, for, though twelve or thirteen feet 

 would be more than the height of the average 



