384 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



for 1871, an instance is given of a tigress charging a man in a tree, and spring- 

 ing up eleven feet six inches from the ground, as proved by the claw marks. 

 It is also said that she began tearing the bark off the tree mth her teeth 

 at ten feet four inches from the ground. 



Mrs. Colin Mackenzie in her book " Life in the Mission Camp and Zenana, " 

 says : — " Captain J. told me he never knew a tiger up a tree but once ; that 

 was at Hingoh. An unfortunate man who thought himself quite safe cried 

 out ' here she comes ' ! The tigress heard him, went up the tree, puUed the 

 man down, and bit him on the knee so severely that he died in hospital soon 

 after. It was so remarkable an occurrence that the tree was cut down and 

 brought into HingoU as a curiosity." 



But the most remarkable instance of tigers climbing trees was recorded in 

 the South of India Observer in December 1870, as follows :— 



" More tigers ! Now that our monsoon is over, or greatly moderated, our 

 sportsmen have been able to resume operations against the feline race. We 

 learn that two gentlemen killed two tigresses last week, one on the 2nd ins- 

 tant, the other on the 5th. They may be called the Peermund and Aniculmund 

 tigers. Both afforded considerable sport, and one carried on such games as 

 possibly never were heard of before in tiger shikar. It appears that the one 

 alluded to was found in a small sholab, about 200 yards long and 50 or 60 broad. 

 The coohes and dogs had scarcely been put in at the top of the beat when a 

 sudden screaming and skedaddhng among our canine friends was heard, which 

 showed that there was some animal of dangerous prochvities inside. This had 

 hardly passed when a huge tigress bounced out at the foot of the sholah, imme- 

 diately going heels over head in a hidden nullah which she had not seen. This 

 was all so instantaneous that there was barely time for one of our sportsmen, 

 who was seated calmly on the grass within 25 yards of where this happened, 

 to blaze a shot at the tigress as she flashed back into the sholah. The men 

 continued beating down and presently stripes again showed for a moment at 

 almost the same place, and another hasty shot was fired. She then disappeared 

 for some time, and next showed herself near the top of the sholah and tried to 

 escape in another direction, but the coohes made such a din that they drove 

 her down agam. Now comes the curious part of the story. One of the shika- 

 ries, watching at the top, spied Mrs. Stripes suddenly appear on the toi? 

 branches of one of the highest trees in the sholah. He immediately called 

 out, " the tiger has gone up a tree." 



This was good news, and one of the sportsmen ran up the side of the sholah 

 and sure enough saw Mrs. Stripes laid out on a branch at least thkty feet from 

 the ground. To knock her off this perch with a brace of bullets took but a 

 moment of time, and down she came with a thundering crash, apparently 

 lifeless. The beaters began to cheer, thinking their work was over ; but they say 

 a cat has nine lives and so it proved on this occasion. She presently began 

 growling and snarling at the dogs that had got round her. The gentleman who 

 had been busy with her, as she was nearest his side then crawled into the sho- 

 lah and presently saw Mrs. Stripes get on her legs and move off ; but the 

 brushwood was so thick that it was impossible to see in what direction she was 

 coming, so he skedaddled. He had hardly got out, when to his amazement he 

 saw stripes shining up the same tree, just as any ordinary house-cat would. 

 The tigress got back to almost the same part of the tree as before and stood 

 on the fork of two branches upright, looking down and exposing her great 

 chest. To tumble her off again was a momentary affair, and down she came 

 with a tremendous crash. She required a ball through her brain to finish her 

 off, even after this, as she lay on the ground pawing at the dogs. The 

 sportsmen examined the tree after the battle was over, and it proved to be 

 perpendicular for about 25 feet. There were the claw-marks, showing that she 

 had gone up the same tree twice, once wounded, as seen by the blood. The 



