JOURNAL 
OF THE 
Oo WES Ak: 
1 
rb 
datunal History Soviety. 
ail 4 
No. 3-] BOMBAY, JULY, 1888, [Vol. Il. 
UNSCIENTIFIC NOTES ON THE TIGER. 
By J. D. InvVerariry. 
(Read at the Soctety’s Meeting on 9th April, 1888.) 
Tue title of this paper will have given you notice that I do not 
make any pretensions to the learned and scientific attainments of 
the gentlemen who have instructed and amused us by the able 
papers hitherto read at our monthly meetings. One of the chief 
pleasures of shikaring, to my mind, is the observation of the manners 
and customs of the animals one pursues. I keep a journal when in 
the jungle, so I have been able to correct my memory by reference 
to notes made at the time. When I was looking up materials for 
this paper, I was surprised to find how many small but valuable 
details I should have forgotten without the aid of my journal. I 
meant to have astonished you with some exceptionally large tigers, 
but as my notes show them to have been considerably smaller than 
I should have imagined, if trusting to memory alone, I am unable 
to do so. In fact, I find that I have never killed or seen killed a 
tiger that measured so much as 10 feet. The size of tigers gives 
rise from time to time to animated discussions in sporting books 
and in sporting newspapers, Some maintaining that tigers of 11, 12 
or even 14 feet have been slain, others fixing about 10} feet as the 
hmit. The accepted mode of measurement is to run the tape from 
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