TIGER. 283 TIGER HUNTING. sportsmen, and Government rewards. In 1902 about 1300 lives -were so lost in British India alone. The prey wlien struck down is usually carried away by the tiger to be eaten elsewhere, and extravagant stories of tlie tiger's strength have been related in connection with this habit. It is absurd to speak of its leaping a palisade with a buffalo or even a man in its mouth. A tiger will lift from the ground and partly carry, partly drag, an animal of 200 or 300 pounds weight, with considerable ease; but heavier ones must be laboriously dragged. Tigers are solitary beasts, rarely hunting even in pairs, and much less noisy than the lion. Their usual call is a prolonged, moaning, thrill- ing sound, repeated twice or thrice and becom- ing louder or quicker. In the cooler season they ■wander widely, but in the hot weather remain in some narrow district near water — a single one in each "beat.' Tigresses breed irregularly, once in two or three years only, regardless of season, and produce usually two cubs, almost invariably one male and the other female. The cubs require three years to reach maturity and stay with their mother most of this time. When caught young tigers may easily be tamed, but are more difficult to rear and less tractable than lions. Captive and tamed tigers have been kept by the East Indian rulers from the daj's of an- tiquity, and a favorite amusement was to pit them in the arena against lions, in which com- bats they were usually victorious. The 'royal Bengal tiger' has been a part of the showman's stock in trade ever since, and is to be seen in every menagerie, where these animals breed, but less readily than do the lions. Some have been trained to go through certain performances. Bibliography. Recent general works, espe- cially Brehm's. the Royal, the Sfdiidurd, and the Cambridge "Natural Histories;" Mivart, The Cat (New York, 1892) : Elliot, Monograph of the Felidw (1878-S3); Fayrer, Roijal Tiger of Ben- pal (London, 1875) ; Blanford, Fauna of British India. (London. 1888) ; Sanderson, Wild Beasts of India (London. 1893) ; Baker, Mild Beasts and Their Wai/s (London, 1890); Pollok, Sport in British. Burma (London. 1879) ; and the writ- ings of Kinlock, Forsyth. Shakespeare, Wallace, Rice, Baldwin, Dawson, and other sportsmen- travelers in Eastern Asia, a capital summary •of whose observations will be found in Porter's Wild Beasts (New York. 1894). See Colored Plate of Felid.e accompanying article Lion. TIGER BEETLE. One of the active, preda- tory beetles of tlie family Cicindelidae. Of the carnivorous beetles they are among the most active, voracious, and fierce, whence they receive their name. They frequent sandy places and earthen paths, and have the habit when ap- proached of running rapidly for some distance, occasionally turning suddenly back, and often taking to flight. While variously colored, and sometimes even bright green spotted with yellow- ish, they harmonize as a rule with the general color of their environment. Their larvoe live in deep, straight vertical burrows in the ground, and station themselves near the burrow's mouth, holding themselves in position by means of a pair of strong hooks on the fifth segment of the abdomen. The head and thora.x are broad, and are used to block the mouth of the burrow while svaiting for prey. The food consists of insects A TIGER BEETLE. which alight on the spot or run over it. Some 14U0 species are known, the majority of them in- habiting the tropics. Some species are wing- less, while others are very active: some are found onl.y on the moinids of termites : some species frequent the trunks of trees, which they ascend in a spiral manner. Less than a hundred species are known in the United States, but tiger beetles are abundant and are seen everywhere. The larg- est American form is Ambly- chila C!ilindriforinis, which is found in sandy regions in the mid-Western States. Tetracha CaroliiKi and Tetracha Virginica are large greenish species found in the Atlantic and Southern States. The genus Cicindela contains more than half the species in the entire family, and a very great majority of the forms which are found in Nortli America. A typical American species, the spotted tiger beetle {Cicindela sex-gntlata), is depicted upon the Col- ored Plate of Insects. TIGER-CAT. Any wild cat of medium size which resembles the tiger in form or markings. The ocelot, serval (qq.v.), and especially the chati {Felis mitis) of South America, and clouded tiger of India, are frequently so called. See Wildcat. TIGER-FLOWER (so called from the color- ing), Tigridia Paronia. A plant of the natural order Iridaceie, distinguished by the three large outer segments of the periantli and by the fila- ments being united into a long cylinder. It is a native of Mexico, but hardy enough to endure the climate of the United States, and much cul- tivated in flower-gardens for the singularity and great beauty of its ephemeral flowers. The root is a scaly bulb. TIGER-HUNTING. Tiger-hunting probably taxes man's skill and courage in a higher degree than the pursuit of any other sort of game, and may justly be placed at the head of the list of s|iorts of the cluise. The enormous strength of the beast, coupled with savage cunning, renders it the most formidable of brute foes. Nothing is more patent in the voluminous history of the sport (see Tiger for outline of pertinent litera- ture) than that no two tigers behave in the same way when encountered: and the same animal may act dift'erentlj' at dift'erent times. Tigers learn by experience, have no fear whatever of man as man. and rarely make tactical mistakes. In some parts of India hunters in parties go after them on foot, but this is justly regarded as an ex- treme of foolhardiness; the hunter's handicap is far too great, and few men dare the risks of this kind of sport. One of two methods usually is chosen by the tiger-hunter according to circum- stances: (1) lying in wait for the animal at night (when there is moonlight) on an elevated platform, or (2) seeking him upon the back of a trained elephant. The former is the choice in cases where a tiger is known to haunt a particu- lar locality. The hunter then chooses a likely spot and builds a platform or 'machan' (usually in a small tree), which must be raised not less than 12 feet above the ground, and be large enough to hold two persons. On the ground
