The Tiger is as high on the limbs as the Lion; but it is more slender, active, and stealthy, closely resembling, in figure and movements, the domestic Cat, which serves as the type of the entire genus. Its coat is very handsome, being of a yellowish fawn color above and a pure white beneath; everywhere irregularly striped by brown transverse bands. Its tail, which is very long, is ringed with black, and contributes not a little to its beauty. It has also white around the eyes, on the jaws, and on the back of each ear.
The Tiger is peculiar to Asia. It inhabits Java, Sumatra, a great part of Hindostan, China, and even Southern Siberia as far north as the banks of the river Obi.
The Tiger makes its lair in jungles or densely wooded districts bordering on water-courses. Like the Lion, it has a den, to which it retires for rest; from whence it steals forth, secretes itself in a wood on the borders of a frequented path, and there, concealed from every eye, awaits its victim. The moment it sees the object of its desire, its eyes flash, and its whole bearing manifests a savage joy; it allows the unsuspecting prey to draw near, and when it is sufficiently close, springs upon it with tremendous velocity. If it scents prey from a distance, it glides through the high grass with the undulating movements of the serpent, almost impossible to be detected by the human eye.
The Tiger has for a long time borne a reputation for cruelty, as little deserved as that for generosity which has been given the Lion. The old Naturalists pretended that the Tiger gloried in shedding blood, and that it never saw a living creature without desiring to destroy it. Nothing can be more untrue. The Tiger does not kill for the pleasure of killing; it kills only to appease its hunger. In doing this, it only conforms to the necessities of its nature; but when it has fed, it does not exhibit any blood-thirsty propensity, but simply defends itself when threatened or attacked.
Tigers will occasionally take to water. In the Sunderbunds especially they are often seen swimming across the various rivers, which form innumerable islands, inhabited only by wild beasts. Invariably, the fore-paw is the Tiger’s instrument of destruction. Most people imagine that if a Tiger were deprived of his claws and teeth he would be rendered harmless; but this is an error; the weight of the limb is the real cause of the mischief, for the claws are rarely extended. When the Tiger strikes his victim, the operation is similar to that of a hammer, the Tiger raising his paw and bringing it down with such force as not only to stun a common-sized Bullock, but often to crush the bones of the skull!
Williamson gives an amusing account of the mode by which Tigers are captured in Oude: “The track of the Tiger being ascertained, which, though not invariably the same, may yet be sufficiently known for the purpose, the peasants collect a quantity of the leaves of the prouss, which are like those of the sycamore, and are common in most underwoods, as they form the larger portion of most of the jungles of India. These leaves are smeared with a species of bird-lime, made by bruising the berries of an indigenous tree; they are then strewed, with the gluten uppermost, near to that shady spot to which it is understood the Tiger usually resorts during the noontide heats.
“If by chance the animal should tread on one of the smeared leaves, his fate may be considered as decided. He commences by shaking his paw, with the view to removing the adhesive incumbrance, but finding no relief from that expedient, he rubs the nuisance against his face with the same intention, by which means his eyes, ears, &c., become sticky, and cause such uneasiness as occasions him to roll perhaps among many more of the smeared leaves, till at length he becomes completely enveloped, and is deprived of sight. In this situation he may be compared to a man who has been tarred and feathered. The anxiety produced by this strange and novel predicament soon shows itself in dreadful howlings, which serve to call the watchful peasants, who in this state find no difficulty in shooting the mottled object of their detestation.”
THE LEOPARD.
The Leopard is smaller and more active than the Tiger and larger than the Panther. It is arboreal in its habits and finds in the spots or rosettes which decorate its tawny skin a provision highly favorable to concealment among the foliage, wherein it lurks, until some passing animal approaches sufficiently near to enable it to spring upon its unsuspecting prey.
The activity of the Leopard is almost beyond belief. Mr. Andersson, speaking of his Dogs, says: “They were, I conjectured, from their steady, unbroken, deep bay, close upon the haunches of their enemy, yet I could not see distinctly either the Dogs or the object of the pursuit, when all at once a magnificent Leopard sprang right before me, from the topmost branches of a tall acacia, clearing with a single bound all his fierce assailants. I was so astounded at the magnitude of the leap—without having witnessed it one can hardly form a notion of the distance oversprung—that, looking first at the tree, and then at the spot on which the beautiful beast had alighted, I could not withdraw my eyes from the scene of its exploit.”