312 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



No. V.— NOTES ON SHOOTING IN OUDH. 



It would seem as if we had yet to discover a factor for the comparative 



measurement of tigers. All length measurements appear to be eminently 



unsatisfactory, and skull measurements , which I, amongst others, at one time 



thought might be of service, do not afford any reliable results. I append 



skull measurements of three tigers lately shot : — 



Skull. 

 13£" X 9£" 

 1H" X 9§" 

 134" X 10|" 



No. 2 was undoubtedly the biggest, heaviest, and fattest of the three ; 

 but No. 3 was much heavier and more powerful than No. 1. I have no means 

 of determining actual weights, but incline to think that this process 

 would yield, on the whole, the best comparative results. Still it would 

 have to be taken into consideration that a tiger which had not fed 

 for a week might weigh 50 lbs. or more less than a tiger which had just 

 had a full meal. The heaviest panther, out of ten shot this season, measured 

 7'-6" and scaled 138 lbs. Panthers do not appear to put on flesh in the 

 same way as tigers do, probably because they are of more restless and 

 active habits. The skull measurements of the panther above-mentioned 

 were9|"x6''. Two immature tigers (7'-9") and the mother (8'-6" estimated) 

 were secured. The former had still the milk canines, but these were of 

 abnormal length, having been pushed out of the socket about f" by the 

 advancing permanent canines. The pugs of these tigers were as large as 

 those of the mother. Both of them were shot from a machan constructed 

 over the head of a buffalo, the sole remnant of a family feast. One arrived 

 immediately the shiJcaries hadileft. He received a "577 hollow-pointed express 

 bullet, intended for his brains, about one inch below his left eye. This did 

 not seriously injure him, but he dropped to the second barrel in the body 

 as he charged past the machan— another proof that facing shots at tigers' 

 heads are unsatisfactory. The second tiger came out in about five minutes 

 undisturbed by the firing, and fell to one shot. A third cub was in the 

 vicinity, but would not show. The tigress for five days wandered about 

 roaring, although these cubs must have been three years old, and she still had 

 one with her. When shot, it was found that her tail had recently been cut 

 off at about eight inches from her body, the wound was quite smooth and clear. 

 It is probable that the whole party had been fired at, and perhaps the tigress 

 wounded some 15 miles away in Nepal. The third cub was doing well 

 a fortnight after the break-up of the family ; she was killing deer, but 

 I have known a cub of much tenderer age survive his mother's death, feeding 

 on frogs and other vermin until he attained strength to kill more legitimate 

 food. 



Only one bear was bagged during the season ; she was, with a well- 

 grown cub, driven to a machan badly placed at a low elevation on a sloping 



