Size of the Tiger. 1I 
China. Colonel Sir H. Green gives the length of a tiger which 
he killed as 11ft. 1lin., measured in the flesh. Mr. Shillingford, 
who can reckon over 200 tigers to his “bag,” met with one 
monster that measured as he fell 12ft. 4in., a very old, short- 
haired, and faintly-marked animal. This, it appears, is also 
sometimes equalled, as in the case of one that fell to Mr. White, 
the gentleman who measured it saying: “I can remember beyond 
all doubt the length was 12ft. 4in. from tip of nose to tip of 
tail, 2ft. 2in. from ear to ear, the direct breadth of wrist 8in., 
spread of foot 10in., heel to withers 4t.” 
These particulars, given from memory, were disputed at the 
time of their publication by several competent judges, and 
must be taken with the utmost reserve, especially, I think, with 
respect to the breadth of the wrist. The following dimensions, 
given by Colonel Ramsay, of a specimen shot by himself, and 
estimated to be about 12 years old, are likely to be more trust- 
worthy: Extreme length, 12ft.; tail, 3ft. 9in.; height from 
heel to shoulder, 3ft. 7in.; girth of body behind shoulder, 
5ft. 3in.; girth of forearm, 2ft. 103in.; neck, 3ft. 7in.; distance 
between ears, lft. 63in.; length of upper canines, 3in.; lower, 
13in.; claws, 3in. Colonel D. G. Stewart killed a tiger, not at 
all approaching the above in length, the girth of whose forearm 
he asserts to have been of the almost incredible size of 4+ft., 
the average being, he says, 32in. or 34in. 
Whatever we may allow for error, these proportions proclaim 
a beast of enormous strength. Let us picture to ourselves an 
arm as large as the chest of an average man, consisting of two 
almost parallel bones covered with muscles. We may then 
realise in some sort the terrific character of the blow dealt by 
such a limb, armed, too, with four claws, each 3in. in length, 
It is, indeed, almost possible to believe the accounts of such an 
animal pulling an elephant to its knees, or smashing the skull 
of an ox with a single blow of this huge weapon. 
The tiger, however, in spite of his great strength, does not 
always have the best of it, as appears from a communication 
to the Field: “The following extract is from a letter lately 
