1 8 BOOK OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
paws, and the great weight of 
his body enable him to spring 
on the head of the largest ele- 
phants, and fairly pull them 
down to the ground, riders and 
all. But the elephant some- 
times shakes him off under his 
feet, and then either kneels on 
him and crushes him at once, 
or gives him a kick which sends 
him away limping. Someone 
on the elephant’s back, most 
likely, has a gun ; then he tries 
to shoot him through the head, 
and many tigers have been 
killed in this way. The tiger is 
strong enough to kill and carry 
off to the woods a deer, a horse, 
