THE TIGER 133 



of our presence. Even now it did not occur to 

 me that the strange noises we had heard were 

 made by the tigers, and it was not until we had 

 gone another hundred yards without hearing 

 further trumpeting, or the breaking of branches, 

 that it began to dawn on the trackers and myself 

 that the elephants existed only in our imagination. 

 This was by no means my first interview with 

 tigers; moreover, I had often heard them roar, 

 both when mating and when in search of food, 

 and once heard a tiger roaring at intervals 

 throughout the day from early morning until 

 four in the afternoon, when he killed a cow ; but 

 never before or since have I heard tigers make 

 such an extraordinary noise as this pair were 

 creating. I can only describe it by saying that 

 it was exactly like the loud trumpet of an ele- 

 phant, ending almost in a squeak. We all know 

 how cats can caterwaul on the housetop, and it 

 was evident that we had interrupted this pair 

 of tigers in a serious flirtation. No wonder the 

 row had deceived us ! I am quite sure that if I 

 ever heard it again on elephant ground, when 

 not expecting to see a tiger, I should again be 

 taken in. 



One does not hear of many man-eaters in 

 Burma. Occasionally one is met with in the 

 remoter parts of the country; but, probably from 

 lack of opportunity, they seem to kill human 

 beings at long intervals only. There used to be 



