TEE MOTAL TIOER OF BENGAL. 29 



Sometimes he affects ruins, and those of the ancient 

 city of Grour, where lie imbedded the debris of 

 former stately buildings, among dense jtmgle of 

 corunda (Zyziphus jujuba), are a favourite resort. 

 The patches of tamarisk by the river sides or on the 

 churs (sandbanks), the grass, rattan, and other 

 underwood in many places, abound with tigers; 

 the rocky ravines and scrub-covered hUl sides and 

 nullahs also give them shelter, and are chiefly the 

 characteristics of the habitat of the tiger in the 

 Bombay and Madras Presidencies, which make 

 tiger shooting so different there, to what it is in 

 Bengal. 



It is generally admitted that the tiger attains the 

 greatest size in India, and there can be no doubt that 

 he is really the largest of the existing felidse. Blyth 

 says that he believes that the largest tigers consider- 

 ably exceed in size the largest lions. Eadde says he 

 has compared skulls from the Amour, from Caucasus, 

 and India, and that he found the latter considerably 

 larger than the others. The Caucasian tiger appears 

 to be remarkable for the small size of the upper canines. 

 The size of the tiger varies ; some individuals attain 

 great bulk and weight, though they are shorter than 

 others which are of a slighter and more elongated 

 form. The statements as to the length they attain 

 are conflicting and often exaggerated ; errors are apt 

 to arise from measurements taken from the skin after 

 it is stretched, when it may be ten or twelve inches 

 longer than before removal from the body. The 



