1 40 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



happening. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of 

 horror at looking round the beast. This peculiar state is probably 

 produced in all animals killed by the Carnivora, and, if so, is a 

 merciful provision by our benevolent Creator for lessening the pains 

 of death." 



TIGER. Of all the Cat tribe the Tiger (Figs. 107 and 108) is the 

 most brilliantly coloured, the magnificently striped coat being well 

 known to almost every one. 



The two animals shown in the illustrations are both females, and 

 were presented to the London Zoo by King George V after his 

 Indian tour. 



The male and female are both very much alike, the latter being 

 somewhat smaller and the cheek frills are less pronounced than in the 

 old male. The young also resemble their parents, being striped 

 at birth. 



The Tiger is a resident of all Asiatic countries, and visitors to 

 Zoological Gardens where Siberian specimens are on view will have 

 ocular demonstration of the thickness of the coat and larger size of 

 those beasts found in the north of Asia, the extra thickness, of 

 course, affording better protection in those parts where the cold is 

 intense. Many people seem to inseparably associate the Tiger with 

 a tropical country, living in regal splendour .amid the luxuriance of 

 its jungle home, but from its wide distribution throughout Asia it 

 will at once be apparent that its haunts are often far from the swampy 

 districts of the tropical zone. 



The favourite habitat is, however, the latter, where, in a thickly 

 overgrown bamboo swamp, it lurks in wait for prey. Although 

 the protective coloration of this and other wild beasts has perhaps 

 been somewhat exaggerated, there seems little doubt that the mag- 

 nificent colour and stripes of the Tiger's coat closely assimilate to 

 its environment, for the light and shade cast by upright stems, such as 

 bamboos, fall in stripes or streaks, and thus blend with the Tiger's 

 striped coat under the influence of the same rays of light. 



It is a larger animal than the Lion, attaining a length of some 

 ten feet, and certainly more powerful and courageous than the 

 so-called King of Wild Beasts. Its ferociousness has frequently 

 been chronicled, and even to-day the loss of thousands of human 

 lives every year may be attributed to it. The man-eating Tiger 

 haunts villages, ever on the prowl for some human prey, and whole 

 districts have become depopulated as a result of its daring deeds. 



