Big Game Shooting, volume 2 (of 2)

by Clive Phillipps-Wolley

Sterndale gives an ingenious formula for finding the length of a tiger from its skull. For details the reader is referred to his book.

In the following list of measurements only tigers of 10 ft. or over are mentioned except where weights are given and of exceptionally large tigresses. The system of recording tigers’ weights as shot does not appear satisfactory. Those which scaled over 500 lbs. must surely have included a good deal of beef.

Measurements

Authority	Total length	Tail	Height at shoulder	Girth of chest	Girth of forearm	Girth of upper arm	Length of skull	Breadth of skull	Weight as shot	Remarks
	ft. ins.	ft. ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	ins.	lbs.
Gen. Sir C. Reid, K.C.B.	12 2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’ (skin measured 13 ft. 5 in.)
Lieut.-Col. Boileau, 1861	12 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Sterndale
Col. Ramsay	12 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Hon. R. Drummond, C.S.	11 9	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Col. Shakespeare	11 8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Gen. Sir C. Reid, K.C.B.	11 6	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Sterndale, ‘Meade Shell’	11 6	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Mr. F. A. Shillingford	11 5	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Letter to ‘The Asian,’ ‘Land and Water’, Aug. 30, 1890
”	11 1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	11 0	3 6¾	43	..	..	..	15¼	10½	..	Ditto (skull quoted by Sterndale now in Calcutta Museum)
”	11 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
”	11 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
”	11 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Sir G. Yule	11 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’
Mr. Shillingford	11 0	3 4	43	54	26	..	..	..	..	Shot in Purneah	Quoted by Sterndale to compare the bulk of tigers in Bengal and S. India
”	10 2	3 1	45	73	34	..	..	..	..	Shot in S. India
Mr. F. A. Shillingford	10 10	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Letter to ‘The Asian’
”	10 10	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Mr. Shillingford	10 9½	3 6½	43	..	..	..	..	..	..	Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’
”	10 8½	3 5½	44½	55	..	..	..	..	..	”
Sir J. Fayrer	10 8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Mr. F. A. Shillingford	10 8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Letter to ‘The Asian’
”	10 7	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	10 7	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	10 6	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	10 6	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Gen. Sir C. Reid, K.C.B.	10 6	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’
Col. J. Macdonald	10 4	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Maharajah of Kuch Behar	10 2½	3 2½	39½	48½	20	26½	..	..	530	Letter to ‘The Asian’
”	10 2½	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	493	Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Mr. F. A. Shillingford	10 2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	‘The Asian,’ ‘Land and Water’, Aug. 30, 1890
Sir E. Durand, Bart.	10 2[20]	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	Nepal, Jan. 18, 1891
Maharajah of Kuch Behar	10 1½	3 1	44¾	54	21	29	15¾	..	..	‘The Asian’
”	10 1	3 3½	41	56	19½	26	..	..	..	”
Forsyth, ‘Highlands Central India’	10 1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
”	10 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..
Maharajah of Kuch Behar	10 0	3 1	40	52	21	26	..	..	540	‘The Asian’
”	10 0	3 2	40	51	18¾	29	..	..	..	”
”	9 10	3 0	41½	47½	18½	26½	..	..	426	”
”	9 6	3 1	38	52	19	29	..	..	481	”
”	9 5	3 1	38¼	49	18	26	..	..	420	”
‘Deccan Ranger,’ ‘Oriental Sporting Magazine,’ 1876	9 10	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	432½	Tiger
”	9 10	3 1	46	..	..	..	..	..	425	”
”	9 6	2 11	..	..	..	..	..	..	370	”
”	9 6	3 2	45	..	..	..	..	..	447½	”
”	9 2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	330	”
”	9 0	3 0	42	..	..	..	..	..	282	Tigress
”	8 11	2 9	39	..	..	..	..	..	245	”
”	8 8	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	285	Tiger
”	8 5	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	256	Tigress
”	8 5	2 9	39	..	..	..	..	..	253	”
Mr. H. L. Heber Percy	9 10[20]	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	” Nepal, Feb. 12, 1891
”	9 2½ [20]	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	” ” Jan. 31, 1891
”	9 2	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	” ” Jan. 21, 1891
The Writer	9 1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	” Central India, May 23, 1876
Col. Gordon Cumming, ‘Wild Men and Wild Beasts’	9 1	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
”	9 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	”
Capt. Lamb	9 0	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	” Central India
Sir E. Durand, Bart.	9 0[20]	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	” Nepal, Jan. 17, 1891
Sanderson, ‘Thirteen Years among the Wild Beast’	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	..	349½
Rowland Ward’s Collection	..	..	..	..	..	..	14½	10	..	Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Average of full-grown tiger	9 6	3 1	42	48	18	26	..	..	420
Average of full-grown tigress	8 4	2 10	39	..	..	..	..	..	265

V. PANTHER (Felis Pardus)

Native names: generally, ‘Chita’; in the Himalayas, ‘Lagá Bagá’; in Central India, ‘Téndwá’

The panther is common all over India, Burmah, and Ceylon, but does not cross the snow-line of the Himalayas, being replaced beyond the range by the ounce. Sterndale gives two varieties, the pard and the panther, describing the pard as being larger, the spots more clearly defined in rosettes, and the skull longer and more pointed than the panther’s. Sanderson also gives two varieties with the same distinctions, but calls Sterndale’s pard the panther, and Sterndale’s panther the leopard.

This is in itself perplexing to the ordinary sportsman, and as the writer saw two beasts shot in the same beat, the male corresponding to Sterndale’s pard and the female to Sanderson’s leopard, the only solution he can offer of the difficulty is that the sportsman may call the beast he shoots either leopard or panther according to his own fancy, and not one man in a hundred will be able to contradict him.