“ KILLS” BY CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS, 637 
AY Sterndale (“‘ Mammalia of India”) does not think that. tigers 
have “a uniform way” of killing: he thinks that they 
sometimes do it by a blow on the head, but more fre- 
quently by seizing the throat and dislocating the ver- 
tebre. He says a tiger “seldom springs,” but ‘“ rushes” 
on his quarry. 
(2) I find in the Kanara Gazetteer, a valuable article on tigers 
contributed by Colonel Peyton (late Conservator of 
Forests). In describing their method of attack, he says :— 
“Tigers either steal in or rush on the herd. : 
When they secure one of the herd they drag it into the 
thicket, sometimes at once, but often when they come 
back towards dusk to feed. . . . . Opinions vary 
regarding the way in which a tiger seizes its prey. 
Some sportsmen hold that the tiger seizes its prey by the 
throat ; others hold that the victim is caught by the nape 
of the neck. In 9 cases out of 10 the anima! is seized by 
the throat. . . . In seizing their prey tigers use their 
terrible forepaws to bring the victim down and dislocate 
hisneck, . . . In eating its prey the tiger asa rule 
begins on the rump, and less commonly at the breast.” 
It seems a pity that so much difference of opinion should exist where 
—while admitting that circumstances must alter individual cases— 
unanimity should, I think, prevail. The only way in which we can 
hope to arrive at this is for individual sportsmen to carefully observe 
all the tiger “kills”? that come under their notice and to chronicle 
their observations. 
V.—The applicabelety of these maxims to other Carnivora.—Some, 
but never all, of the corroborative features mentioned in the maxims 
may occasionally be noticed in the case of “kills” by other animals, - 
(a) Hycenas—For instance, a hyzena may attack the throat of a 
goat (Condition I), but the circumstance is, I believe, very unusual. 
As an example, I can recall an occasion during the hot weather, 
sitting over a goat one evening, below a kopje in the Panch Mahals. 
A panther was expected, but a hyzena appeared instead. On arrival he 
surveyed the goat with some nicety, and walked round it, gradually 
approaching nearer and nearer. He then came quite close up, and 
