G2 FELID.?;. 



I^lace to place, tliougli probably kee]nng in general within an area 

 of 15 or 20 miles in dianieter. In the hot season from March to 

 June their range is usually more restricted, as vegetation is dried 

 up or burnt except near the few spots where Mater is still found. 



As has already been remarked, tigers are very much less in the 

 habit of roaring than lions are. AVhere the latter are common 

 scarcely an evening passes without their being repeatedly heard. 

 I have often been in places \^'here tigers were equally abundant, 

 but it is an exception for their roaring to attract attention *. 

 Their usual call is very similar to that of the lion, a prolonged 

 moaning, thrilling sound, repeated twice or thrice, becoming louder 

 and quicker, and ending with three or four repetitions of the last 

 portion of it. Besides this, there is a peculiar loud " woof" pro- 

 duced wlien the animal is disturbed or surprised, a growl that it 

 utters when provoked, and the well-known guttural sound of rage 

 repeated two or three times when it charges. When hit by a 

 bullet a tiger gcMierally roars, but tigresses, at all events, very 

 often do not; 1 have on three occasions at least knovvn a tigress 

 receive a mortal \a'ou]k1 and pass on without making a sound. 



Tigers swim wt'll and take readily to wat(n', even crossing arms 

 of the sea. They but rarely ascend trees, and appear quite incapable 

 oL' climbing a vertical stem, large or small, it is true that they 

 liave been knovvn to take men out of trees, from heights it is said 

 of even 18 or 20 feet ; but sucb cases are always due to some pecu- 

 liarity in the tree, a sloping trunk, or a fork 8 or 10 feet from the 

 ground, from which the animal can get a fresh stai-t. As a rule a 

 tiger, like other mammals, pays no attention to men in a tree even 

 a very few feet from the ground, if they do not move or speak. 



In fact tigers are much less addicted to springing than is popu- 

 larly supposed, and rarely move their hind legs oft' the ground 

 except to clear an obstacle. Still they are capable of springing 

 some distance. They have a habit, like cats, of scratching wood, 

 and often show a ])redilection for the trunk of a particular tree, 

 on which the marks of their claws may be seen up to a height of 

 10 or, it is said, 12 feet. 



The ordinary game-eating tiger of the forest lives mainly on deer 

 and pigs, and avoids the neighbourhood of human habitations. 

 Almost all tigers, however, occasionally kill cattle. The wild 

 animals commonly eaten by tigers are pigs, deer of all kinds, nylgai, 

 four-horned antelope, and porcupines. The last are evidently a 

 common prey. I have repeatedly, in the Central Provinces, when 

 skinning tigers, found fragments of porcupine-quill encysted be- 

 neath the sldn. Peafowl may be slain at times, but mon; often, 

 I think, by leopards than by tigt^rs, and the same may be said of 

 monkeys. Bears, though not often attacked, occasionally fall 



* It, is 1 rue tbfit my own experience wjis at not quite the same time of the year. 

 I have been repeatedly in jun^fle.s inhabited by tigers from November till .June, 

 and C)nly in lion-haunted tracts in .luly and August. I'lit all travellers notice 

 the noisiness of lions. 



