44 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



seeing Bird, whose elephant was standing in a 

 fairly open place. The tiger therefore passed 

 close to him, and was killed by a single well- 

 placed shot. 



On the ist of May Bird and I had a very interest- 

 ing but unsuccessful sit for another tiger. The 

 tiger had killed and eaten two or three of our buffa- 

 loes, but could not be located for the purposes of 

 a beat. He was, evidently, a very cunning brute. 

 One day the shikaris returned full of confidence, 

 having marked him down in a very favourable 

 locality, but he cleared out before we arrived 

 and the beat was blank. We decided, therefore, 

 to sit up over a live buffalo, which was tied upon 

 the road upon which the other buffaloes had been 

 killed. Our machan was well screened, having 

 been tied in a thick leafy tree, but we could see 

 only to our front, and could neither shoot nor 

 see anything up the road behind us. The buffalo 

 was tied about 20 paces from us down the road. 

 There was no moon, but the night was clear, 

 and the tiger came at about ten o'clock. I was 

 dozing at the time, but Bird was watchful and 

 heard him, and, at a touch from him, I took 

 in the situation. The tiger stood for some time 

 on the road to the rear of the machan, watching 

 the buffalo, and then, as could be seen in the 

 morning, lay down in the grass to our right, 

 nearly parallel to the machan. Then he got up 

 and walked round the buffalo, without showing 

 himself ; but apparently he was suspicious of a 

 trap, and made no attack. The buffalo did not 

 appear to be particularly alarmed, but kept 

 head on to the tiger, and, as the tiger moved, 



