48 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
The chief enemies of the spotted-deer are the 
tiger, the panther, and the wild-dog, and the two 
former appear to prefer the doe to the stag. It 
would not, perhaps, be correct to attribute to the 
carnivora any choice in flavour resulting from sex, 
but it may be remarked, apart from the facts that 
the females are more numerous, and amongst the 
deer tribe are forced ,by the males to occupy the 
posts of danger, that the large carnivora appear to 
be nervous of attacking antlered prey, probably 
because of the danger they run from wounds acci- 
dentally inflicted in a tussle ending with a headlong 
fall. It is not, perhaps, sufficiently recognized that 
a slight injury may have very serious results to an 
animal who is dependent for his livelihood on the 
perfect condition both of his muscles and of the 
weapons provided by Nature, and that there would 
naturally be great repugnance to incur any risk 
of even temporary disablement. The tiger whose 
victory I recorded in a previous page, when killed 
some three weeks later, had evidently suffered much 
from hunger, although the wound in his fore-paw 
was rather inconvenient than severe; and in the 
same way a porcupine quill in a fore-leg, or a gash 
on the pad of the foot from a sharp stone or stake, 
may temporarily change a well-fed, good-tempered 
tiger or panther into a starving, morose, and dan- 
gerous brute. 
Neither the spotted-deer nor sAémbhar flee when 
the great carnivora are in their vicinity. They 
wisely endeavour to keep the foe in view, and will 
stand around in a wide circle uttering their alarm 
cries. It is easy for the hunter then to join the 
