’We cut out regular “fids” once from a tiger’s stomach, also large pieces of bone.  Joe heard a tremendous roaring one night, which continued till near morning, not far from Nipunneah.  He went out at dawn to look for the tiger, which he found was dead.  The brute had tried to swallow the knee-joint of a bullock, and it had stuck in his gullet.  This made him roar from pain, and eventually choked him.’

As there are two distinct varieties of wild pig in India, so there seems to be little doubt that there are two distinct kinds of tigers.  As these have frequently crossed we find many hybrids.  I cannot do better than again quote from my obliging and observant friend George.  The two kinds he designates as ‘The Royal Bengal,’ and ’The Hill Tiger,’ and goes on to say:—­

’As a rule the stripes of a Royal Bengal are single and dark.  The skull is widely different from that of his brother the Hill tiger, being low in the crown, wider in the jaws, rather flat in comparison, and the brain-pan longer with a sloping curve at the end, the crest of the brain-pan being a concave curve.

’The Hill tiger is much more massively built; squat and thick set, heavier in weight and larger in bulk, with shorter tail, and very large and powerful neck, head, and shoulders.  The stripes generally are double, and of a more brownish tinge, with fawn colour between the double stripes.  The skull is high in the crown, and not quite so wide.  The brain-pan is shorter, and the crest slightly convex or nearly straight, and the curve at the end of the skull rather abrupt.

’They never grow so long as the “Bengal,” yet look twice as big.

’The crosses are very numerous, and vary according to pedigree, in stripes, skulls, form, weight, bulk, and tail.  This I find most remarkable when I look at my collection of over 160 skulls.

’The difference is better marked in tigers than in tigresses.  The Bengal variety are not as a rule as ferocious as the Hill tiger.  Being more supple and cunning, they can easier evade their pursuers by flight and manoeuvre than, their less agile brothers.  The former, owing to deficiency of strength, oftener meet with discomfiture, and consequently are more wary and cunning; while the latter, prone to carry everything before them, trust more to their strength and courage, anticipating victory as certain.

’In some the stripes are doubled throughout, in others only partially so, while in some they are single throughout, and some have manes to a slight extent.’

I have no doubt this classification is correct.  The tigers I have seen in Nepaul near the hills, were sometimes almost a dull red, and at a distance looked like a huge dun cow, while those I have seen in the plains during our annual hunts, were of a bright tawny yellow, longer, more lanky, and not shewing half such a bold front as their bulkier and bolder brethren of the hills.