The Zoologist— August, 1869. 1771 



not as an exception, found the quills buried deeply in their flesh in a 

 transverse direction. 



An opinion prevails with many persons that the quills are swallowed, 

 and eventually work through the system out to the extremities : I can- 

 not but doubt this in the case of larger and thicker quills, which 

 are always carefully removed from the animal before it is eaten. 

 Quills of the size and thickness of hogs' bristles I have invariably 

 found in the tissues of the skins of both tigers and leopards ; also hogs' 

 bristles and the stiff hairs of other animals; but never a porcupine 

 quill big enough to cause serious distress to the animal swallowing it. 

 That it is easy enough for a tiger or a leopard, when taking hold of a 

 porcupine, to get a number of the quills into its body by the simple 

 resistance which the latter offers, any one who has seen a living por- 

 cupine can easily imagine — from the way it spreads out all its arma- 

 ments, turning its head away from the front of the enemy, and 

 presenting its bristling posterior, a living chevaux-de-frize to receive 

 the brunt of the blow. 



A CANNIBAL TIGER. 



I used to get frequent 'khubber' of a tiger and tigress on the Bhog- 

 pore estate near Nujjeemabad. I went more than once, with a party 

 of others, to look for the quarry, but besides finding numerous fresh 

 tracks on the sandy bed of the Malun river, we never got sight of the 

 game ; till one afternoon we, a party numbering four, mounted on a 

 couple of pad elephants, came upon remarkably fresh tracks of both 

 tigers : I got down and tracked, which was easy enough on the sand. 

 After leaving the bed of the river, the animals made their way into 

 thick tree jungle: here I stopped and mounted my elephant; my 

 dogs, some four or five, were amusing themselves by putting up and 

 chasing cheetul and hog-deer. It was during a chase of this sort 

 that 1 caught sight of the tigress springing out of a bush, and with a 

 single stroke of her paw kill the leading dog on the spot : she stood 

 over the body of poor Rover, smelt his carcase, and walked deli- 

 berately away: we followed, and, after a hot chase which lasted over 

 fifteen minutes, the tigress doubled and was lost sight of. 



The following evening, the same party being out, we neither saw 

 nor heard of the beasts till late in the evening, when a magnificent 

 roar told us where the royal game could be found. The tigress (she 

 was again foremost and leading) came right upon our view, stalking 

 an extensive plain : hearing our approach she stood, growled, and . 



