80 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



but with us they are supposed to differ only in disposition 

 and habits, and not in form, colour, or size. 



It has been surmised by many sportsmen, European 

 and native, that the Soonderbun tiger is in some respects 

 unlike his kindred of the hills and plains ; that he is longer 

 and thinner in build, and looser in his skin. A friend, who 

 has greater experience of the Soonderbuns from Sagur 

 Island to Rahnubad than anyone in the country, gives it as 

 his opinion that the tiger of those woods and salt or brackish 

 waters is longer from tip of nose to tip of tail, but not so 

 high, as those of other localities ; their footprints assuredly 

 seem to me to be smaller in general than those of others, 

 and such individuals as have been seen by me appeared 

 certainly rather lower in stature ; but the sole distinctive 

 characteristic of this tiger, so far as is known, is its utter 

 fearlessness of man, and its inveterate propensity to kill and 

 devour him on all and every opportunity ; taking this 

 amiable creature, therefore, as he is, I should say he was, 

 without exception, the worst and most confirmed man-eater 

 of all his species. 



Living, as the Soonderbun tigers do, an amphibious sort of 

 life in thick and to man impenetrable forests and thickets, 

 constantly crossing and recrossing creeks and rivers of salt 

 or brackish water, and often obtaining none other to drink, 

 they might reasonably be expected to differ more from the 

 rest of their kind than they actually do, as a matter of 

 fact. 



It does not appear that the colour of tigers varies much 

 according to their habitat ; some may be a little darker and 

 brighter than others, but the general tone is rarely departed 

 from, and thus tigers from youth to maturity display the 

 brightest tints; from maturity to old age the colours fade, 

 the brilliant yellow becomes paler, the stripes grow brownish 

 and fainter, till at extreme old age the ground is a pale 

 tawny, and the stripes are faintly marked. Tigers with 

 white skins Albinos, in short are rarely met with ; I have 

 seen but one such skin, and that was not a pure white, but 



