cannot hear a sneaking tiger, he can still
_smell_ the tiger.

Most animals can smell their enemy a long way off, even if they do not
hear him or see him; but _the deer and the antelope can smell the
farthest_. Even if a sneaking tiger is so cunning that he stops in a
thicket and stands quite still for a minute, so that he does not make
any sound at all,--and so the deer cannot hear him,--even then the
deer can smell him when he is still a long way off.

I must tell you now that the tiger himself can smell the deer. But he
cannot do that very far off,--so the deer always smells him _first_!

Also, the tiger can hear the deer, if the deer happens to be moving.
But the tiger cannot hear quite so far as the deer can. So the deer
always hears him _first_!

But in one thing the tiger is better off than the deer: _the tiger can
see farther than the deer_. In the night most animals can see a
little, but the tiger can see a little better and farther than the
others. And in the daytime, if a deer were feeding in a very big level
field, and a tiger came to the field from the other side, the tiger
would see the deer before the deer could see him. Then the tiger would
come round to the nearest thicket, and try to creep up to the deer
from thicket to thicket.

_Each Animal has the Gift he Needs Most_

So, you understand, the deer can _hear_ farther and _smell_ farther;
but the tiger can _see_ farther.

And that is so because it is a wonderful rule in the jungle that _each
animal has the gift that he needs most_.

But can you think why the tiger _needs_ to see farther, and why the
deer _needs_ to hear farther and smell farther? I shall tell you.

The tiger is the catcher, and the deer is the one that is caught. So
the tiger tries to get to the deer, and the deer tries to run _from_
the tiger.

But to get to the deer, it would be no use to the tiger if he could
only smell or hear the deer, for then he would only know that the deer
was _somewhere_ near, but could not find the exact spot; and to catch
the deer the tiger must know exactly where the deer is. So the best
way for him to know that is to _see_ the deer.

But for the deer himself, all that he needs to know is that a tiger is
somewhere near. So it is quite enough for him to know from which side
the tiger is coming, by just smelling him or hearing him. Then the
deer can run the other way at once. He does not want to see the tiger
at all!

So, you understand, t