lOO Wild Beasts 



hunter interested in the game of that vicinity. A lioness 

 with her whelps crouched among the herbage at a little 

 distance, and so intent were they upon the movements of 

 their expected prey, that he was entirely unnoticed. While 

 awaiting events a band of quaggas passed close to some 

 bushes at the foot of the slope, and then a lion's form was 

 launched upon the leading stallion, and he fell dead from a 

 blow with the beast's forearm. 



Without any delay the lion proceeded to help himself, 

 his family drawing near, but waiting until his appetite had 

 been stayed. " The sultan of the desert " has a short 

 temper when he is feeding, and on many occasions has 

 been known to eat his wife, either in the way of reproof 

 to her importunity at such times, or because he did not 

 have food enough. It would seem that this lioness sus- 

 pected something of the kind might occur, for she kept 

 herself and the young ones in the background until his high- 

 ness had finished, which he, not being particularly hungry, 

 did very soon. When he had walked away and stretched 

 himself out, the rest pressed forward, and the mother 

 treated her offspring with scant curtesy. She pounced 

 upon those parts she preferred, and boxed the little ones, 

 who were struggling for a bite, out of the way whenever 

 they incommoded her. 



Thus far in the catalogue of leonine gifts and graces we 

 have not discovered any that are peculiarly their own ; on 

 the contrary, when examined closely, those with which 

 lions are accredited turn out to be counterfeits. Gordon 

 Gumming says of the lion, in company with his mate and 

 whelps, that, "at this time he knows no fear," and in de- 



