.

In this house-moving the cubs can trot behind their father and mother
for a mile or two. Then, for fear of tiring the cubs, the tiger and
tigress scoop a hollow under a tree, and place them there. The tiger and
tigress go on ahead till they find the new home. Then they come back to
fetch the cubs.

If the cubs are now two months old, the father and mother need have no
fear in leaving them for a few hours. So in their new home the tigress
may go hunting with the tiger every day.

If food gets very scarce, the tiger goes out alone for a long distance
for two or three days at a time. In his absence, the tigress makes a
short trip from time to time in another direction, in case any other
kind of food may by chance be found there.

Tigers prefer to eat deer or antelope, just as you may prefer to eat
roast turkey. But if tigers cannot get deer or antelope, they have to
catch a bullock or a buffalo--which is just plain beef! As even that may
be scarce, tigers have to be satisfied with the wild pigs, which are
plentiful in the jungle,--that is, just pork! As a change now and again,
they may have mutton, because there are also wild sheep and wild goats
in the jungle.

But when the tiger and tigress are both away from the den in search of
food, are the cubs quite safe in the den?

They usually are, after they are two months old, when they are as big as
house dogs; and, until then, either the tiger or the tigress stays with
them all the time. When the cubs are two months old, they may stay by
themselves in the den; then a wolf or a hyena may perhaps come to the
den, and try to kill one of the cubs; but all the cubs would stand
together, facing the enemy, and would defend themselves.

They would change at once from being playful like kittens; they would
become little tigers in their nature. And woe to the wolf or hyena when
the mother returns! She would know at once by the cubs' actions that
they had been annoyed. Then the tigress would track down the intruder
and kill it.

At the age of three months the cubs can eat meat, but they cannot chew
it as yet, as their teeth are only beginning to grow. So the mother
chews the meat for them. If she or the tiger has caught a deer, she
chooses the tenderest part of the meat, and chews it into mincemeat.
Then she puts a little of it into the mouth of each cub. She does that
several times, till the cubs have had enough to eat.

When the cubs are four months old, their teeth have