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entirely incorrect, because it implies a power of discrimination which we do not believe them to possess. It would be exceedingly cruel in a human being to play with the terrors of an animal about to be put to death, and allow it to make numberless fruitless efforts to escape; yet this act is perfectly natural to the cat, and not more cruel than the most ordinary movement, inasmuch as the cat can have no idea of the suffering inflicted."

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THE TIGER.

Felis Tigris.

THIS most beautiful, but at the same time most destructive and ferocious of quadrupeds, is a native of all the southern countries of Asia situated beyond the Indus, and extending to the north of China. Its form and colour are well known, as the tiger has been familiar to us for many years. We must not, however, judge of the extreme beauty of this animal's skin from the specimens seen in menageries, which, by long confinement and an alteration of climate, have lost the native

brilliancy of their colours. "When seen in perfection it is scarcely possible to conceive," says Dr. Shaw, "a more elegantly variegated animal than the tiger. The bright and intense orange yellow which constitutes the ground colour, the deep and well-defined stripes of black, in some

parts double, in others single, the pure white of the cheeks, over which a part of the black striping is continued, form altogether an appearance far superior in beauty to the skin of the zebra, or that of any other regular-marked quadruped, not excepting the panther itself." In its general size. the tiger is inferior only to the lion, and has been seen even larger, of the length of fifteen feet from the nose to the tip of the tail. The largest are those of India, which are called Royal Tigers; but this distinction relates only to the size of the animal, there being only one species of tiger, though there may be, perhaps, some races larger than others.

Buffon, and many other naturalists, have described the tiger as a creature which, in comparison with the lion, deserves more of the hatred of mankind than their admiration. This is an unfounded prejudice.

The tiger and lion are similar in their anatomical construction, and similar in their habits; they are equally cats, living by the destruction of animal life. One fact, however, is in the lion's favour, he

assists the female in rearing her young, whilst the tiger deserts his partner. The tiger and lion are hostile to each other, and the combats between them are described as being of the most furious kind; both animals have been known to perish rather than give up the fight. As European civilization has advanced in India, the race of tigers, whose ravages among the flocks and herds caused them to be the scourge of the country, has gradually become less numerous. The East India Company formerly offered a donation of ten rupees (about twenty shillings) for every tiger that was destroyed within their provinces. Some years ago the island of Cossimbuzar was almost completely cleared of tigers by a German, named Paul, of great muscular strength and undaunted courage, who devoted himself to their extermination. He is said to have shot five tigers in one day. His rifle never failed; and his success was such in the destruction of this ferocious animal, that the enormous overgrown wastes, which had been almost surrendered to the tiger, were soon changed into fertile agricultural districts. Some idea may

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