TIGERS. . 203 



only there is always the necessary warm inside lining. Caves 

 probably abound. Food in plenty is a necessity, and that again, 

 seems to be forthcoming, for the fauna of Manchuria, and 

 South Siberia, the two being practically the same, contains- 

 deer. Stag, antelope, and wild-boar in gr'eat abundance, 

 to say nothing of many smaller animals. There is, there- 

 fore, a richly varied menu supplied by Nature herself, and,, 

 of course, there are, in the more settled districts, numbers 

 of domestic animals with which to vary the diet. In Central' 

 Asia, the tiger is known to live largely on wild swine, and' 

 wild asses. 



The tiger does not leap on its prey as is represented in- 

 many booksof popular natural — dt' rather unnatural — history. 

 As with a galloping horse, it is a rare thing for the four 

 legs to be all off the ground at once. The attack is made by 

 a sudden rush of only a few yards. If the prey be an ox or 

 deer it is seized by the throat from below. Whilst the teeth 

 are thus engaged, the fore paws take hold one on each side 

 of the fore quarters. Then a quick wrench, sometimes aided 

 by a spring to one side, breaks the neck, and the operation 

 of killing is over. Sometime a blow stuns the quarry at 

 once. This, probably, is the usual result when man is taken. 

 At other times, it is said, animals are hamstrung by a quick 

 stroke of the claws from behind, after which killing is easy. 

 The hind quarters are eaten as the first portion of the feast^ 

 and the amount which a well-grown, hungry tiger can 

 dispose of is said to be enormous. A man a meal is about 

 the regular requirement of those degenerate beasts that 

 have taken to the "forbidden fruit." A cow every five days 

 or so seems to be demanded by such as prey on the domestic 

 cattle of the Indian villager. But the tiger is by no means 

 dainty over his food. Having well gorged himself after a kill, 

 he will lie up for perhaps forty-eight hours, and during that 

 time an Indian sun does much in heightening the flavour of 

 beef or venison. Apparently this does not deter the tiger 

 from eating it. Carrion as it is, he devours what is left, and 

 is even said to take steps to prevent its falling into the claws 

 of prowling hyaenas or jackals. Unless taken unawares, 

 as they always are if "Stripes" can manage it, full-grown 

 buffaloes and even full-grown boars are said to be quite a 

 match for the master of the jungle, and on one occasion 

 Bagheera, the black panther friend of Mowgli, muttered 

 something about giving Shere Khan, the big tiger, a lesson if 

 he did not mind his manners. But that is a Kipling story. 



Endless are the tales of hairbreadth escapes and hair- 

 raising situations in tiger hunting in India. One would 

 like to dwell on them for a while, but space forbids. I 

 noticed the large proportion of cases in which tigers that 



