50 A HAND-BOOK OF THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 



and clawing each other through the upper bars, the narrow ledge 

 formed by the cross flat bars giving them a temporary support. It 

 was therefore found necessary to complete the boarding almost to the 

 top of the cage. Tigers are less noisy than lions. Their call, which is 

 a deep prolonged growl, is generally heard in the evening. 



Anecdote. 



The escape of two tigers is worthy of mention. On the 23rd 

 January 1877, two tigers escaped at about 6 p.m. from the Burdwan 

 House while some of the officers connected with the garden were stand- 

 ing in front of one of the dens. The keepers, who were on the roof of 

 the house engaged in raising the gratings to let the animals into their 

 inner dens, first noticed the escape. The officers rushed to the opposite 

 end of the building to verify the fact, and having ascertained its truth 

 beat a rapid retreat towards the nearest bird-house, and thence towards 

 the entrance gate, discussing the steps to be taken for keeping the animals 

 within the garden enclosure during the night and securing them, if pos- 

 sible, in the morning. It was decided to keep the roadside lamps of the 

 garden burning and to maintain perfect silence inside the garden, so as 

 not to disturb or terrify the beasts. The news of the escape soon spread 

 in the neighbourhood ; the shops were closed and the bazars presented 

 an unusually deserted appearance early that night. Meanwhile at 

 the request of the Commissioner of Police, to whom a report had been 

 conveyed, a company of sepoys of the regiment stationed in the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood was turned out to form a cordon round the garden, 

 with orders to continue shouting and yelling the whole night. This plan 

 succeeded admirably. The tigers remained inside the garden and 

 abstained, while at large, from killing or molesting a single animal, 

 although they had ample opportunity of doing so. This unexpected 

 moderation on their part may be ascribed to their freedom from hunger, 

 as they had been fed immediately before the escape, or more probably 

 to their astonishment and alarm at the novelty of their situation. In 

 their rambles one of the tigers twice passed quite close to the Superin- 

 tendent of the garden, who was seated in the small ticket office made 

 of durmah mats only — there was no entrance-lodge then — to keep 

 himself informed of the movements of the beasts, with the help of the 

 two keepers watching them from the top of the Burdwan House. It 

 was a clear moon-lit night, and the trees and shrubs in the garden were 

 then still small. About midnight both the tigers retired inside 

 the walled enclosure (to the west of the Burdwan House) which was 

 at that time unoccupied. Hopes were then entertained of securing 

 them in the morning, and, everything considered, the position of the 

 House at one corner of the enclosure with sliding doors, the height 

 of the wall (7 feet as it was then) and the nature of the beasts, there 

 would have been a good chance of capturing them. The Commis- 

 sioner of Police, however, decided in the interests of the public safety 

 to run no further risks, marshalled his forces on the roof of the Burd- 

 wan house at 5 a.m., and at the third volley the beasts fell. This is 

 the only tiger-shooting on record so near to Calcutta. 



Enquiry was, of course, made as to the cause of the escape. The 

 Burdwan House had not then been finished, and it transpired that the 



