as there are human habitations, with their usual adjuncts
of herds and flocks, within a dozen miles of the jungle tiger's haunts,
so long there will always be the transition from the game-killer to
the cattle-lifter and the man-eater. Colour and striping must also
be thrown out of the question, for no two individuals of any variety
agree, and the characteristics of shade and marking are common to
all kinds. The only reliable data therefore are derived from
measurements, and from these it may be proved that the grass-jungle
tiger of Bengal, though the longer animal, is yet inferior in all
round measurement and probably in weight to the tiger of hilly
country--see Mr. Shillingford's comparison quoted by me above. Let
also any one compare the following measurements of one given by
Colonel Walter Campbell with a tiger of equal length shot in the
grassy plains of Bengal:--

ft. in.
Length from point of nose to end of tail . . . . . 9 5
Ditto of tail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 10
Height from heel to shoulder . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2
Extreme length from shoulder to point of toe . . . 3 11
From elbow to point of toe . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 0
Girth of body just behind the shoulder . . . . . . 5 3
Ditto of forearm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 7
Ditto of neck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 0
Circumference of head . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3

This is a remarkably short-tailed tiger. If the concurrence of
evidence establishes the difference beyond doubt, then we may say
that there are two varieties in India--the hill tiger, _Felis tigris,
var. montanus_; and the other, inhabiting the alluvial plains of
great rivers, _Felis tigris, var. fluviatilis_. Dr. Anderson says
he has examined skulls and skins of those inhabiting the hill ranges
of Yunnan, and can detect no difference from the ordinary Indian
species.

The tigress goes with young for about fifteen weeks, and produces
from two to five at a birth. I remember once seeing four perfectly
formed cubs, which would have been born in a day or two, cut from
a tigress shot by my brother-in-law Col. W. B. Thomson in the hills
adjoining the station of Seonee. I had got off an elephant, and,
running up the glen on hearing the shots, came unpleasantly close
to her in her dying throes. When about to bring forth, the tigress
avoids the male, and hides her young from him. The nat