i66 IVILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS chap. 
humour to undertake a return journey of perhaps 
a mile to watch over the remains of its kill; it will 
therefore lie down in some thick covert near the 
spot by the nullah where it recently drank, instead 
of returning to repose in the neighbourhood of its 
recent victim. This will throw out the calculations 
of the shikari, who would expect that the tiger will 
be lying somewhere near the spot where it dragged 
the buffalo. The beat will under such false con¬ 
ditions be arranged to include an area in which 
the tiger is supposed to be asleep after its great 
meal, but in reality it may be a mile or two away in 
some unknown direction near the water. Great 
precaution is necessary in making all preliminary 
arrangements. It is a common custom of native 
shikaris to tie up a buffalo where four paths meet, 
as the tiger would be walking along one of these 
during the night, and it could not help seeing the 
alluring bait. I do not admire this plan, as, 
although the probability is that the buffalo will be 
killed, there is every likelihood of disturbance after 
the event, when natives would be passing along 
the various routes. The slightest noise would 
alarm the tiger, and instead of remaining quietly 
near the carcase, it would slink away and be no 
more seen. 
Natives are very inquisitive, and should the tiger 
have killed the bait, and dragged the buffalo away 
to some deep nullah, the shikari and his companion 
are often tempted to creep along the trace until they 
perhaps see the tiger in the act of devouring the 
