Books: Cats' Play

MAN-EATERS OF KUMAON (235 pp.)—Jim Corbetf—Oxford ($2).

The fearful symmetry of Felis tigris is an old story to Jim Corbett.* Born (in 1875) in the tiger-haunted Kumaon Hills of India, he has been studying tiger tracks and tactics since he was old enough to tote a gun. In Man-Eaters of Kumaon (April co-selection—with Mary Jane Ward's The Snake Pit—of the Book-of-the-Month Club), he spins some fine, hair-raising yarns about tigers he has known.

Zoo-gawkers in general will appreciate his main point: a tiger is always hungry. Timid ones may be consoled to learn that not every...

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