TIGER, Felis figs-is, one of the largest of the felidee, equal perhaps to the lion in size and strength, and superior in activity. It has no trace of mane. It is more slender than the lion, its whole form more cat-like, its head smaller and rounder. All its motions are performed with the utmost grace and apparent ease. It does not climb trees, but winds its way through brushwood or jungle with great dexterity, runs very swiftly, and can leap an immense distance. It takes its prey either by running, or, more frequently, by lying in ambush and leaping upon it. Its strength is such that it is capable of carryirg off an ox or buffalo. It is sometimes 15 ft. in entire length to the tip of the tail; an instance is on record of 18 feet; the height is from 3 to 4 feet. The tigers of some regions differ considerably in size from those of others; thus the tiger of Bengal is much larger than that of Bokhara. The hair is thick, fine, and shining; in the colder coun tries which the tiger inhabits, it is thicker and longer than in tropical regions. The color is a bright tawny yellow, beautifully marked with dark transittrse bands, passing into pure white on the under parts; the dark bands are continued as rings on the tail. The tail is long,,slightly tapering clothed with hair similar to that of the body. Individuals sometimes occur, of a pale whitish color, obscurely striped, the stripes only visible in par ticular lights. The tiger is found only in Asia. It abounds in Hindustan, in the Eastern Peninsula, in Java, Sumatra, andother tropical islands. It is found also iu China and Japan, and iu Persia. Its range, however, does not extend much to the west of a hue drawn from the mouth of the Indus to the Caspian sea. It is found as far n. as the s. of Siberia, and even on the banks of the Obi. It inhabits woods, and cannot exist without free access to water. The islands of the delta of the Ganges have long been celebrated as a haunt of tigeis. The tigers generally lies concealed iu a thicket during the day, and seeks its prey by night. The prey is very often obtained by watching near the places to which animals resort for the purpose of drinking. Tigers prowl about villages, and enter cattle-folds; they also follow traveling-parties, and seize the yoke-oxen and buf faloes, particularly those which straggle away from the encampment at night. The ravages of tigers in some parts of the East Indies are very great; and a great number of human beings are destroyed by them. A notion prevails that a tiger which has once tasted human flesh becomes eager for it, and prefers it to all other food; and a single tiger has been known to kill and devour many people, watching near some frequented path, or prowling around a village. The truth appears to be that this is the mode of obtaining prey to which a tiger sometimes resorts, when incapable, through old age, of the active exertion necessary for capturing buffaloes or deer. The tiger brings forth
three, four, or five young ones at a birth. When taken young, it is easily tamed, and often shows much affection for those who treat it with kindness. Tame tigers are not unfrequently to be seen in India.
The tiger was less familiarly known to the ancients than the large African felidee. It is, however, mentioned by Aristotle, and it is frequently mentioned by the Latin poets. Pliny tells us that the first tiger seen at Rome was a tame one belonging to Augustus. Claudius exhibited four tigers at once.
The tiger frequently breeds in captivity, but not so frequently as the lion. A hybrid between the lion and tiger, the offspring of the male lion and the tigress, has been some times produced in menageries. It is striped like the tiger, and not maned. None of the hybrid cubs, however, have lived long.
Tiger hunting is a favorite Indian sport, not unattended with danger, but all the more exciting on that account. Europeans generally ride on elephants when engaged in it, and the tiger is shot from the back of the elephant. Natives, however, are employed to beat the wood or jungle for the tiger, and lives are not unfrequently lost; but the destruction of a single tiger is sometimes a thing of importance to a whole vil lage or neighborhood. The East India company formerly gave a reward of ten rupees for every tiger killed. In most parts of India, tigers are now much less numerous than they once were. Many expedients, of which the following are the chief, are adopted for their destruction in the countries infested by them. Bows with poisoned arrows are fixed in their paths, so as to be discharged on being touched. 1.'..2avy beams are also so placed as to fall upon the tiger pressing against a rope, and crush it by their weight. Traps of various kinds ere set, sometimes bated with a live goat or other small animal. The Chinese use a box-trap with a looking glass placed in it, and the tiger, attracted by his own image, disengages the fastening of the lid, and is captured. This method is very ancient, and is represented in ancient sculpture. A very curious mode, practiced in Oude, consists in scattering numbers of broad leaves smeared with a substance like bird-lime in the tiger's path, and if he sets foot on a smeared leaf, his fate may be regard ed as sealed. He rubs his paw on his face, to get quit of the leaf, and the case becomes worse, the leaves are transferred to his face; fresh attempts to remove the nuisance only add more leaves, till he becomes completely blinded, and rolls on the ground for very rage; while the hunters, ambushed close by, apprized by his howlings, hasten to dispatch him.
The tiger is an emblem of power in the east. A tiger's head, gorgeously adorned with jewels, decorated the, throne of Hyder All and Tippoo Sahib, and was among the spoils taken by the British at Seringapatam.