The Ottawa free trader., 1876-01-08

| The immense variety and value OF tht
natural productions of India are no less ex
hlbited in the animal life that teens in heI
jungles and forests than in the vegetation
that covers her soil with tropical luxuriance,
and in the mineral treasures that make the
earth in many districts a mine of untold
wealth. The wild beasts that roam her
plains, and provide royal sport for the hun
ter, include the lion, the tiger, leopard, pan
ther, bear, boar, wolf, jackal, hyena, lynx,
fox, bison, elephant rhinOceros, deer, gazelle,
antelope and neilgye. Of these, the noblest
is the tiger, which is larger, fiercer and strong
fiction, been regarded az the monarch of the
animal kingdom.
DIR. Fayrer says IN his recent little book on
the Royal Tiger of Bengal in treating of
the comparative qualities OF the lion and tiger,
that the latter lis generally described as ihfe-
rior, though nearly equal, to the so-called
king OF beasts but in size, strength, activity
and beauty he really surpasses him, and
therefore, though he may neither be so cour.
ageous nor 80 dignihed, hs Is entitled to the
first place-at ali events In India; for there
he is in his home, whilst the lion, compare
lively rare, and confined to certain limited
portions of India, such as Guzerat, Gwalior
and few other localities, is, as it were, the
outlying and degenerate representative Of
branch of fauna that attains Its highest de-
velopment in Africa; withal, the largest
tiger exceeds the largest lion in size as much
as in strength and activity"
DR.. Fayrer frequently measured specimens
that were more than ten feet from the nose to
the end of the tail. No lion has ever attained
that size The number of tigers seems to
have increased in India in late years, and
the account of their destrution of human life
is truly appalling. In Lower Bengal alone
1t is stated that, in the six years ending in
1866, l3,4J0 persons were SLAIN by wild ami
mails. OF this number 4,2lS fell victims to
tigers ana 4,2S7 were killed by wolves. In
Rangpore from fifty to sixty people are
annually torn in pieces by wild beasts. A
single tiger has killed in three years time
10S persons. On one occasion the brute kill
ed father, mother and three children; and
IN the week before 1t was shot it destroyed
twenty seven persons. Another tiger was
known 10 Kill during three successive years
an average Of eighty persons annually. Al
third individual killed l27 people in 1869
and actually broke up travel on highway
for several weeks before it was finally made
away with. Sometimes whole villages are
deserted on account of the depredallons OF
one OF these man-slayers. According TO Il
Government report in the central provinces
"a single tigress caused the desertiOH of thir- |
teen villages anG 250 square miles of country
were thrown out OF cultivation
Many OF the most dangerous of the wild
beasts prowl around the immediate neighbor- |
hooc OF the cities, and sacrifice both men and
animals 10 their fierce greed. The
bungalows provided for travellers and the
tents which sheltered them in their journeys
and hunt Ing exclusion are frequently visit,
thaSp gav 4, "A rauHera Whila nj Rnns
selet was cncamped in bungalow on the |
plaius near Delhi there was intense agitation
excited among his men one evening by the 1
presence of hyena in the apartment he o.
cupied, No one dare enter the room, as the
intruder was supposed TO be a panther. 4
mass of hamlng rags was thrown into the I
room, and by their light the animal was dis
covered and dispatched. 1t proved 10 be
hyena; and after peace was restored
by its destruction the traveller retired to rest,
mot without laughing heartily over the emo
hons of the evening and the episode of the
hyena-huni in a bedroom"
Among the characteristic birds Of India
are peacOcks-which aie protected by a spe-
cial edict Of the Hindoo Government-pheas-
ants, pigeons, parrots, jungle.fowl, the pagoda-
hrush, bulbul, famIngo, pelican and adju-
ant.
In some of the cities, as in Calcutta, the
ldjutant is cherished as valuable scavengcr.
The birds become very tame, being preserv-
d from molesiation, and walk about in the
crowded streets, or perch on the SUBMITS of
buildings, searching with their eagle eyes for
/ prospect of booty. When erect the adJu-l
ant is above Eve feet high-nearly the height
IF man; and with its enormous bill-capa-
Die of swallowing fowl or a leg of mutton
II gulp-its huge pouch underneath, bald
lead and neck, and siotk. like legs, it rs Gu
'ious creature 10 see in the heart OF CITY,
Their services in cleaning the streets OF filth
ire greatly priced; and, with the host of vul-
urcs, Kites. crows aud brzzsrds, whom they
ale, they are the licensed scavengers OF the
,iiics Of Southern India. Strange to say, tne
,eau,iiul marabout feathers grow under their
Wings. q.