TIGER. 375 



The above dimensions are taken in a straight line, but the usual manner of 

 measuring a tiger adopted by sportsmen is to follow the curves of the body, when 

 the dimensions will, of coui-se, be somewhat greater : and it appears that all the 

 largest tigers on record have been measured in this manner. Full-grown tigers 

 thus measured vary from 9 to 10 feet in length ; and tigresses from 8 to 

 9 feet. Unusually fine specimens will, however, reach, or even slightly exceed, a 

 length of 12 feet: 12 feet 2 inches being apparently the maximum dimensions 

 ascertained with any apjiroach to accuracy. It is, however, by no means invariably 

 the case that tigresses reach the minimum length mentioned above, Mr. Blanford 

 stating that he killed one apparently adult example that was only 7i feet long, 

 •while a second measured but 7 feet 8 inches. 



There is still need of additional information as to the maximum weight 

 attained by tigei-s. Sandei-son gave the weight of a fine male tiger killed by 

 himself as 3.50 lbs. ; while specimens weighed by the late Sir W. Elliot weighed 362 

 and 380 lbs. Forsyth concluded, however, that some unusually large tigers, which 

 fell to his own ritie, nmst have weighed from 450 to 500 lbs. These extreme 

 weights have, of late j^ears, been confirmed by Mr. W. T. Hornadaj-, who records a 

 tiger measuring 9 feet Hi inches in length, of which the weight was upwards of 495 

 lbs. The Maharaja of Kuch-Behar has killed tigers which are .stated to have varied 

 from 481 to 540 lbs. ; and one shot by Mr. F. Shilliugford, of which the length was 

 9 feet 10 inches, weighed a little over 520 lbs. The weight of a tiger depends, of 

 coui-se, largely upon the condition of the animal at the time of its death ; and if a 

 specimen under 10 feet in length will turn the scale at over 500 lbs., it ma}' be 

 taken as certain that those of 11 or 12 feet in equally good condition must reach 

 considerably heavier weights. 



Although mainly, if not entirely, confined to Asia, the tiger has an extensive 

 geogi-aphical distribution on that continent and its islands. To the westward its 

 range appeai-s to be limited by the mountains of Ararat and the Caucasus, whence 

 it extends along the southern shores of the Caspian — the ancient Hyrcania — into 

 Northern Persia, the Herat district, and thence into Turkestan. Thence it ranges 

 over a large portion of Central Asia, embracing Southern Siberia, to a line some 

 distance north of Irkutsk, and the whole of Mongolia as far eastwards as Amur- 

 land and the Island of Saghalien. And its fossil remains have been obtained, 

 in company with those of the mammoth, from the Xew Siberian Islands lying 

 some distance within the Arctic Circle. From Mongolia the range of the tiger 

 extends southwards through China to Burma, Siam, and the Malay Peninsula ; 

 and it also embraces the Islands of Sumatra and Java, but not, it is said, Borneo. 

 Across the Assam district, at the northern end of the Bay of Bengal, the 

 tiger ranges into India, where it is found from Cape Comorin to the Himalaya ; 

 although quite unknown in the Island of Ceylon. The whole of the elevated 

 plateau of Tibet forms, however, an island in its distributional area into which 

 the tiger does not intrude. And, as we learn from Mr. Blanford, it is 

 equally unknown in Afghanistan and Baluchistan, as well as in that portion 

 of Persia lying to the southward of the Elburz Mountains. From this extensive 

 distribution it is evident that the popular idea of regarding the tiger as a 

 tropical animal is quite erroneous. And it is even doubtful — in spite of the 



