Tiger Hunting. 13 
playground, with her hinder toes at least three feet from the 
flooring. Possibly these two species have lost the climbing 
habit by feeding solely on terrestrial game; while the jaguar 
and leopard, which do not disdain such small fare as monkeys 
and sloths, have retained it. So far as their structure is con- 
cerned, lions and tigers ought to be as well able to climb as 
any of their smaller congeners; it is, at least, fortunate that 
they do not, for a tree is a secure refuge for a man on the look- 
out, or for an imperilled hunter in time of need. 
So many graphic descriptions of tiger hunting have been 
published that little can be added to them. The following 
incident, however, narrated to me by an eye-witness, may be 
worth recording. While a party were beating up a tiger in 
rather thin jungle among broken ground, one of the sportsmen 
descended into a dry nullah, and was climbing the opposite 
bank, when instantly the beast appeared, and, springing over 
the man’s head, smashed his skull with a blow of the paw in 
passing. It is just possible that old tiger killers may see events 
distorted by the mirage of imagination when they come to tell 
their stories over a glass of grog after a day spent in the pur- 
suit of the gentle woodcock or snipe; for human nature is apt 
to err on the side of bigness when animals of a really dangerous 
nature are under discussion. Some of these, I confess, have 
been too big for me, and those it is needless to inflict upon the 
reader; but others may be accepted without any great tax upon 
our credulity. ; 
A very curious incident happened to an officer of my 
acquaintance when pushing his way through a patch of dense 
jungle where it was not suspected that a tiger was hidden. 
Without the least warning of its approach, he saw a momentary 
flash of yellow and black, and knew nothing more until he re- 
covered consciousness, and found himself lying bruised and in 
great pain and unable to get on his feet. Raising himself with 
diffculty on his elbow, and striving to comprehend the situation, 
he found no blood about him, and felt nothing in the nature 
of a wound beyond a severe bruise on his head. After some 
