Tag Archives: Jim Corbett

My father was born on May 1^st, now just 100 years ago.  He passed in 1999 and is still missed.  One of many things he introduced me to was the writings of Jim Corbett.

First published in 1944, this is one of the memoirs of the India-born Englishman, Jim Corbett.  He loved nature and the jungle, spending all the time he could there.  He would listen to different animal calls – monkeys, deer, and others – and calculate where a predator was by these calls and their locations.  He loved all animals and over time became concerned about the possible extinction of tigers, advocating for the first reserve for them.

There are ten stories in this title, one each about his efforts to find and kill a tiger or leopard who had turned to killing people.  Often this was due to an injury that made hunting its regular prey nearly impossible. 

There have been criticisms of Corbett’s writing, such as the fact that he wrote about these exploits years later, and we all know memory can be misleading.  Others, that he always seemed to have only four bullets and usually used the last one to kill the beast.  Doesn’t that make for a more exciting story?  I do not know the answer to these criticisms, but no one disputes the fact that he went into the jungle (most often on foot), alone, with his rifle, and killed the mankillers.

Other titles by the author:

The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag, 1948
Jungle Lore, 1953
The Temple Tiger and more Man-eaters of Kumaon, 1954
Tree Tops, 1955

Man-Eaters of Kumaon, by Jim Corbett, 1944.