231 



THE TIGER.* 



The tiger inhabits Bengal, Tonquin, Sumatra, Java, and most 

 of the larger East Indian Islands. 



He is usually about six feet from the nose to the end of the 

 body, or, including the tail, the animal's full length is about 

 nine feet. He may be readily distinguished from all his con- 

 genors, or generic relations, by the peculiar markings of his 

 coat: it consists of yellow, elegantly striped by a series of 

 transverse black bands or bars, which variegate the sides of his 

 head, neck, and body 5 and are continued upon his tail in the 

 form of rings, the last one always surmounting the extremity of 

 it. The belly and the inner sides of the legs are almost entirely 

 white. His head is shorter and more rounded than that of 

 the lion, and, unlike that animal, he sports no mane 5 and his 

 whole frame, though lower in height, is of a more slender and 

 graceful make. 



The physical force of the tiger can only be equalled by that 



* So called from its swiftness. " Tyger is an Armenian word, and signi- 

 fieth in that tongue, an arrow ; hence it was that in ancient times there was 

 a river called by the same name, because it ran so swiftly." Franzius's 

 History of Brutes (1670), p. 71. 



