UNSCIENTIFIC NOTES ON THE TIGER. 8) 
You would think that a tiger was a conspicuous object in the 
jungle, but the contrary is the case. His yellow skin blends with the 
colours of the dried-up grass, and the black stripes correspond with 
the flickering shadows thrown by the stems of the grass, leaves and 
branches of the trees, so that when the animal is motionless, it is 
almost impossible to see it. The real danger of following a wounded 
tiger on foot is the difficulty of seeing the brute in time for action. 
Darwin is inclined to attribute the handsome appearance of the 
tiger to sexual selection, and considers the theory that its colour is 
intended as a means of concealment unsatisfactory, and he instances 
the zebra (who lives on open plains) as an animal, whose stripes can 
be of no use for that purpose. It is, however, certain bhat every 
wild animal, however conspicuous its colours and appearance may 
be when seen in Zoological gardens, is extremely difficult to make 
out when motionless in its native wilds; and I have little doubt 
that a zebra on his native plains would be found not to be so 
visible an object as at first sight might seem to be the case. At all 
events, if a tiger remains perfectly still, the odds are you will walk 
right up to him without seeing him. The younger tigers are hand- 
somer than the older ones; the coats of the latter are less vivid in 
colour and have a faded appearance. 
Natives have many pleasing delusions about tigers. They believe 
that the ghosts of a man-eater’s victims ride on his head, warn him 
of danger, and point the way to fresh victims ; and, in one instance 
T heard of where a shikaree had been killed by a man-eater, the 
general opinion was it was no use to try for the tiger, as the ghost 
of the shikaree was up to all the dodges and would in fallibly warn 
the tiger. They also think that you get the courage of the tiger 
by eating its flesh; that unless the whiskers are singed off, the 
spirit of the tiger will haunt you, or (as T readin an old. book) you 
will be turned yourself into a tiger in the next world; that the fat of 
a tiger 1s a specific for rheumatism, that the number of lobes in the 
liver correspond with: the number of years the tiger has lived, that 
the claws if*worn are a charm against the evil eye. The small bone 
embedded in the muscles hetween the shoulder and neck ofa tiger 
is also acharm. ‘This bone is a rudimentary clavicle or collar-bone. 
In some places, too, there is a superstition that God allows the 
tiger one rupee a day for his food, so that if he kills a bullock worth 
Rs. 5, he won’t kill again for five days. If it is worth Rs. 10 he 
won’t kill again for ten days, and so forth. I have also read that 
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