Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/780

 750 TIGER was founded in the 5th century by a monarch named Vakhtang, who conquered the territory lying between the Black and Caspian seas, and was the capital of the nominally independent kingdom of Georgia, though devastated by Genghis Khan, and frequently in the posses- sion of the Turks or Persians. Aga Moham- med Khan, shah of Persia, destroyed it in 1795, and reduced a large portion of the inhab- itants to slavery. The last king of Georgia ceded it to Russia in 1801, since which its population has more than doubled. An insur- rection broke out on June 27, 1805, but was soon suppressed. TIGER (felis tiyris, Linn.), one of the largest, strongest, and most active of the cat family, peculiar to Asia. It is usually about 8 ft. long and between 3 and 4 ft. high, but occasion- ally is considerably larger; the ground color is bright orange yellow, the face, throat, and under parts nearly white, and all elegantly striped with transverse black bands and bars ; Tiger (Felis tigris). it is less high but longer and more slender than the lion, with rounder head and more cat-like form ; the colors are brightest in the adult male, the young being grayish with obscure dusky bands; it has no mane. It lies in am- bush at early dawn by the sides of springs and rivers for animals as they come to drink ; it is able to leap a great distance upon its prey, car- rying off a buffalo with apparent ease, a pow- erful man being as nothing in its jaws; its motions are exceedingly supple and graceful ; it passes the day for the most part in a shady covert, gorged and sleepy from the morning meal. Its north and south geographical range is extensive, from northern China to the Ma- lay peninsula, but it is most abundant in the vast jungles lining the banks of the great riv- ers of Hindostan. In many parts of Bengal it is the terror and scourge of villages, prowl- ing around the outskirts, and attacking cattle in the fold and on the road, though the na- tives protect them in part by noisy drums by day and torches by night-; men and women frequently fall victims. The English rifle has TIGER CAT nearly cleared the thickly settled districts of these animals, against which the native traps and weapons (spears and poisoned arrows) are comparatively powerless. The tiger makes no noise comparable to the roar of the lion, but rather a loud grunting sound. It may be tamed when taken young, but its temper can- not be depended on; it breeds in captivity, though less frequently than the lion ; hybrids between the Asiatic lion and tigress have been born in menageries, but have not reached ma- turity ; their color is brighter and the bands better marked than in young lions or tigers of unmixed race. Pliny says the first tiger known in Rome was a tame one belonging to the emperor Augustus. See Capt. Shakespear's " Wild Sports of India " (London and Boston, 1860), and " The Royal Tiger of Bengal, his Life and Death," by J. Fayrer, M. D. (London, 1875). The so-called American tiger is the jaguar (F. onca, Linn.). TIGER BEETLE. See BEETLE. TIGER CAT, a name commonly applied to several small species of felince, in America, Asia, and Africa, especially to those orna- mented by bands and bars. Among the Amer- ican species, the ocelot has been described under that title, and under the same the mar- gay (felis tigrina, Linn.). The F. eyra, (Desm.) is called tiger cat ; it is about the size of the house cat, but with longer neck, body, and tail; it fs uniform brownish red, with under jaw and nose spot white, paler below ; like the ocelot, it comes from Guiana and. as far north as Mexico and Texas. The F. yagua- rundi (Desm.) is larger, with a much longer body ; it is grizzled brownish gray without spots ; hairs ringed and tipped with black ; the young more rufous ; it extends from Paraguay to Texas. Both of these cats frequent woods and thickets, feeding on small mammals and birds, and are excellent climbers. The chati (F. mitis) of South America is also sometimes called tiger cat. (See CHATI.) There are sev- eral tiger cats in Asia, of which the largest and handsomest is the rimau-dahan (F. macro- Eimau-dahan (Felis macrocelis). cells, Temm.). It is about 3 ft. long, with a tail of 2 ft. more, and 16 in. high at the shoulders ; the head comparatively small, ears