TEE HOTAZ TI6EM OF BENGAL. 25 



gish. and drow sy. He disEkes being disturbed, andjs 

 not easily rousedy^nTTEiFitateTbeing far less for- 

 nHdabie"and indisposed to fight than a lean and 

 hungry tigress, who has her young ones to defend and 

 care for, he is frequently surprised and slain. He 

 feeds on cattle when he can get them, for they are 

 easily kiUed, and furnish an ample meal, but as they 

 are not always forthcoming, he has often to seek his 

 food elsewhere. In India the hog deer (Cervus por- 

 cinus), the cheetul or spotted deer (Cervus axis), the 

 karker (Cervus muntjac) or barking deer, the sambur 

 (Ilusa aristotelii), the goen or swamp deer (Eucervus 

 duvaueelii), the nil-ghye (Portax picta), the wild hog, 

 occasionally monkeys, even pea-fowl, and other smaller 

 animals, become his prey. The pig is said to be an 

 especial favourite, though it sometimes happens thg,t 

 in attempting to kill a boar he meets with more than 

 his match, and is beaten off and even mortally 

 woimded by its tusks. When the buffaloes know, 

 as they often seem to do, that a tiger is near them, 

 they form into a circle or phalanx, the males on the 

 outside, where they face about to receive him. 

 Under these circumstances the attack is generally 

 deferred until some weak member of the herd is 

 caught incautiously straggling from the rest, and is 

 then struck down ; not unfrequently, even then, they 

 charge the tiger, drive him off, and rescue their 

 wounded comrade. I have seen young buffaloes 

 that had been thus recovered, and though lame and 

 sickly looking, they were not always mortally 



