34 
CARNIVORA. 
arid, fixing the hind claws near the throat of the 
animal, would kick or push them suddenly back- 
wards, and tear it open in an instant. Notwithstand- 
ing, however, the natural ferocity of these animals, 
in general, the individual in question was so far in 
subjection, that, while one keeper held its chain 
during this bloody exhibition, another was enabled 
to get the carcass of the sheep away by throwing 
down a piece of meat previously ready for the pur- 
pose*. 
Mr. Cross has had instances of tigers, taken quite 
young, and bred up in a state of confinement, ex- 
hibiting nearly as much gentleness as the lion under 
similar circumstances ; by showing attachment to 
their keeper, and, in one instance, to a dog, which 
was exposed to one of them ; so that their nature 
appears, in some degree, capable of training and 
education ; and the furious character attributed to 
the tiger must be considered as applicable to it only 
in a wild and unfettered condition. 
The tiger, in a state of nature, may be deemed a 
sanguivorous animal, as it always sucks the blood of 
its victim previously to tearing or eating it; and, 
after having so done with one animal, will leave the 
carcass and seize on any other that may come in 
sight, suck the blood of this also with the most 
horrid avidity, which will induce it almost to bury 
* This is related to me by a particular friend, an officer in the 
India Company’s service, who witnessed the exhibition. 
