5oS CARNIVORA 



" One of the most striking things connected with the Lion is 

 his voice, Avhich is extremely grand and peculiarly striking. It 

 consists at times of a low, deep moaning, repeated five or six times, 

 ending in faintly audible sighs ; at other times he startles the forest 

 with loud, deep-toned, solemn roars, repeated in quick succession, 

 each increasing in loudness to the third or fourth, when his voice 

 dies away in five or six low muffled sounds very much resembling 

 distant thunder. At times, and not unfrequently, a troop may be 

 heard roaring in concert, one assuming the lead, and two, three, or 

 four more regularly taking up their parts, like persons singing a 

 catch. Like our Scottish stags at the rutting season, they roar 

 loudest in cold frosty nights ; but on no occasions are their voices 

 to be heard in such perfection, or so intensely powerful, as when 

 two or three troops of strange Lions approach a fountain to drink 

 at the same time. When this occurs, every member of each troop 

 sounds a bold roar of defiance at the opposite parties ; and when 

 one roars, all roar together, and each seems to vie with his comrades 

 in the intensity and power of his voice. The power and grandeur 

 of these nocturnal concerts are inconceivably striking and pleasing to 

 the hunter's ear." 



"The usual pace of a Lion," C. J. Andersson 1 says, "is a walk, 

 and, though apparently rather slow, yet, from the great length of 

 his body, he is able to get over a good deal of ground in a short 

 time. Occasionally he trots, when his speed is not inconsiderable. 

 His gallop — or rather succession of bounds — is, for a short distance, 

 very fast — nearly or quite equal to that of a horse. Indeed, unless 

 the steed has somewhat the start when the beast charges, it will be 

 puzzled to escape. Many instances are on record of horsemen who 

 have incautiously approached too near to the Lion, prior to firing, 

 who have been pulled down by him before they could get out of 

 harm's way. Happily, however, the beast soon tires of the exertion 

 of galloping, and unless his first rush succeeds he, for the most part, 

 soon halts and beats a retreat." " The Lion, as with other members 

 of the feline family," the same writer tells us, " seldom attacks his 

 prey openly, unless compelled by extreme hunger. For the most part 

 he steals upon it in the manner of a cat, or ambushes himself near 

 to the water or a pathway frequented by game. At such times he 

 lies crouched upon his belly in a thicket until the animal approaches 

 sufficiently near, when, Avith one prodigious bound, he pounces upon 

 it. In most cases he is successful, but should his intended victim 

 escape, as at times happens, from his having miscalculated the 

 distance, he may make a second or even a third bound, which, 

 however, usually prove fruitless, or he returns disconcerted to his 

 hiding-place, there to wait for another opportunity." His food con- 

 sists of all the larger herbivorous animals of the country in which 

 1 The Lion and the Elephant, 1873, p. 19. 



