108 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
with claws and teeth. He can reach at least as 
high as the length of his body, so that the rider on 
an ordinary-sized female elephant is well within his 
grasp. But when endeavouring to escape from his 
foes he springs with great certainty to considerable 
heights. For instance, I have seen a tiger jump on 
to the back of an elephant and down the other side 
without intending or doing any harm, and the 
manner in which precipitous ground will be ne- 
gotiated is astonishing in so heavy an animal. His 
methods of hunting are various. With large 
animals, such as buffaloes, of twice or three times 
his weight or more, the tiger will almost invariably 
attack from behind, leaping on the victim’s back, 
and endeavouring to break the neck by pulling 
back the head; hence the scratches on the 
haunches, on the shoulders, and under the chin, 
and the marks of teeth on the back of the neck. 
Smaller animals the tiger will seize by the throat 
from alongside, or will strike at them with the 
fore-paws when running, in the hope of throwing or 
hamstringing them. 
I once in the Patli Doon watched a tiger who 
was interested in some hog-deer grazing in the open 
plain at about 150 yards distance from the banks of 
a small stream. He seemed at once to recognize 
the spot where he would be nearest to his intended 
prey, and proceeded under the cover of the bank 
towards it. At a bend in the stream a small 
crocodile about 7 feet long was lying, evidently fast 
asleep, and to this the tiger paid no attention, 
perhaps in his eagerness mistaking it for a piece of 
driftwood ; but when he suddenly became aware of 
