Evening star., 1925-01-11
Hunters, in Junges of India Face Rush of a Wounded

! When / was in charge OF the Naini
| Tai district some years ago, there
was a scare about eating tigers
| in some dense forest a the base OF
/ the hills. | took an early opportunity
! Of visiting the spot and found that
| there was large family of tigers
| there. consisting of a large male and
a tigTess, with two cubs rather less
| than half grown. This was clear from
their tracks. They undoubtedly had
| killed and eaten two or three people.
although game and cattle were not
I scarce
] succeeded in shooting the male
tiger, but could not find the others.
No more people were killed, and l
think the probability is that the two
or three who were killed were peo-
pie who had been unfortunate enough
to come across the tigresS when she
was with her cubs, which were small
enough to need her protection.
A tigress is an excellent mother. I
once saw a tigress with two small
cubs, about the size of fox hounds
come our of some heavy bush cover.
which was being beaten by three or
four elephants. The two cubs trotted
on ahead, and in order to cover their
retreat the tigress twice charged the
line of elephants. roaring loudly.
The cubs would probably have died
if 1 had shot the mother, so let her
go. [ thought she deserved this for
her bravery. There were not many
tigers about in this particular neigh
borhood, but strictly speaking 1t was
probably most improper to spare her
life, as game was scarce in that To-
cality and this tigress would there
fore have probably educated her cubs
in the art Of cattle killing. A tigress
with growing cubs is far more de-
Istructive than a tiger or tigress alone,
or as a pair.
The tiger cub at birth is very small
in fact, not much bigger than a
large rat Three or four cubs is the
usual number, but as a rule only two
of litter grow up. l have once seen
four almost full grown cubs and the
tigress all together. The cubs stay
with the mother until they are nearly
full grown I have shot them in COM
pany with their mother when the
male cubs measured eight feet, four
inches in length, and the females
about seven feet six inches. The
average length Of g. full-grown male
tiger is about nine feet six inches,
and the female about one foot less.
A tiger over ten feet is an excep-
tionally large one. Ten feet four
inches was the length OF the biggest
l ever saw was nine feet two inches.
Ordinarily a tiger will kill only
sufficient animals for his own needs,
and, assuming that his kills are not
removed by the natives or devoured
by vultures, two kills weekly are
quite enough for him.
a big male tiger is quite noble
lacking animal. A tigress is more
graceful and generally has a more
hpi i;
tia city more dangerous. AS Kipling
says, The female of the species is
more deadly than the male"
II ONCE took three weeks leave and
went up into the Himalayas on
a hunting and fishing expedition with
Z. D. Knowles, who Is now, I believe,
an enploye of the Standard Oil Com
pany In Bengal and whom 1 regard
as the best shikari (sportsman) L
have ever met. We took four ele-
pnants with US. One day we were
exploring a small valley in the hills,
both sitting on a pad elephant.
Suddenly I saw what appeared to
be a large tiger standing on the
hillside. about hundred and fifty
yards away. l was not sure at first
whether II was really a tiger or a
patch of red earth among the grass
stems the hillside, but we both
decided that it was really tiger and
fired at him. Giving a convulsive
leap, he galbped over the ridge above
him.
The slope was too steep for the ele-
phant, so we had to take her back
and work our way up along the top
of the ridge On reaching the place
where the tiger had disappeared we
found no sign of him. On the far
side Of the ridge, which was only
a few yards broad. was another steep
slope with apparently no cover in
which the tiger could hide. We there
fore got off the elephant to look for
a blood trail.
Knowles was just reaching up to
get his rifle from the man driving the
elephant when with a series Of cough
ing roars the tiger, which had been
lying on a little crest of the ridge,
charged up st us. No one who has
not heard the noise made by a charg-
ing tiger can realize what a terrify-
ing sound 1t is. The elephant swung
round and boIted along the ridge.
knocking Knowles over down the
hillside.
With shattered nerves but with sur
prising agility I leaped down the hill
side, and we both took up a defensive