ammer. A tiger has often been known to smash
the skull of a buffalo with a single blow of its paw.

Third advantage: the padded paws enable a feline to leap farther. After
a feline has crept up as near to its prey as it can, it has still to
leap upon its prey to seize it. Then the muscles under the paws act like
springs, and enable the feline to give a big leap. Even in running, the
muscles act somewhat like springs. You must have noticed that, in
running, a dog _gallops_, but a cat _bounds_. That is, the dog moves its
legs very quickly, but each space of ground it covers is not very long.
A cat moves its legs not quite so quickly, but the space of ground it
covers at each bound is much longer. The cat and all felines can give a
bigger bound because of the muscles under their paws.

Having told you all the qualities common to animals of the Cat Tribe, I
shall now describe some of these animals in detail.

CHAPTER VI

The Tiger

The tiger lives in most of the countries along the south coast of Asia,
that is, all the way from Persia to China. Some tigers are also found in
the northern countries of Asia, such as Siberia; but there are very few
of them there. And, of course, these few tigers in the cold northern
countries of Asia are a little different from those in the hot southern
countries. For the tigers in the cold countries have thick fur on their
skin, and a layer of fat under their skin--just to keep them warm. So
they are too fat to be as muscular and active as the slim and lithe
tigers that live in the hot countries in the south of Asia.

Now please remember one thing more about the dwelling place of the
tiger: _there is no tiger in Africa_. Even clever people do not always
know that. When ex-President Roosevelt went on a hunting trip to Africa
a few years ago, he shot many wild and ferocious animals there, and some
newspapers said that he had shot several tigers.

That was a mistake. The animals that he shot were leopards, not tigers.
You can at once tell the difference between a leopard and a tiger: a
leopard is _spotted_, but a tiger is _striped_. I shall tell you all
about that presently.

Even as regards the habits and character of the tiger, people often make
mistakes. There is no animal that has been so much abused as the tiger.
Most people call the tiger a "cruel" and "bloodthirsty" animal.

But that is not true. By "bloodthirsty" people usually mean that the
tiger kills his prey for the