92 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES chap. 



approaching their prey, for surely such a proceeding 

 would be as foolish as it would be for a burglar to 

 whistle and sing whilst committing a robbery, but they 

 will sometimes roar loudly in the late evening or 

 early night, just as they leave their lairs and set out to 

 look for prey. When moving about at night, lions 

 sometimes give vent to a low purring growl — very 

 different in sound to a roar — which may be a call- 

 note to others of their party, and if driven off by 

 shots from a horse or an ox they have killed in the 

 night, they will growl loudly. In approaching a 

 camp with the intention of killing oxen, horses, 

 donkeys, or human beings, lions are absolutely 

 silent, as I believe they always are when approach- 

 ing any kind of wild game. I believe that lions 

 often roar after they have killed an animal and 

 before commencing to feed, and at intervals during 

 the night, as they lie round the carcase, and they 

 certainly often roar when on their way to drink in 

 the early hours of the night, but probably after they 

 have killed some large animal and made a meal. 

 The roaring of one lion or party of lions undoubtedly 

 excites other lions within hearing to roar in answer. 

 I once heard several lions roaring loudly throughout 

 the night, and even after the sun had risen the next 

 morning, and I found that a solitary male lion had 

 approached a party consisting of another male, two 

 females, and two large cubs, standing as high at 

 the shoulder as the full-grown females. The single 

 male was, I imagine, jealous of his married kinsman, 

 but feared to engage in deadly combat with him, 

 and so contented himself by roaring defiance at his 

 rival, who answered with counter roars, in which 

 his whole family joined. The next morning I just 

 missed getting a shot at the unattached lion, but 

 killed the other, a very fine but hasty tempered 

 animal, as he charged me at sight without any 

 provocation. 



