170 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



whole career of a lion may be summed up in the single 

 word rapine. For all the creatures of the wilderness, save 

 the full-grown elephant, rhinoceros, and hippopotamus, he 

 is the terror that stalks by night. His prowess is extraor- 

 dinary. His tactics are stealth, surprise, and sudden, over- 

 whelming fury of attack. Occasionally he hunts by day, 

 but in the great majority of cases by night; and the darker 

 the night the bolder he is and the more to be feared. If an 

 animal passes close to his resting-place in the daytime he 

 will often attack it; and in wild regions he may, if hungry, 

 begin to hunt early in the afternoon or continue to hunt 

 late in the morning; but that this is not common seems to 

 be shown by the fact that if lions are abroad in the 

 daytime, the game does not seem especially disturbed by 

 their proximity; hartebeests, zebras, and gazelles will keep a 

 watch on a lion thus moving up, and will not go very near 

 it, but show no special alarm or excitement. Where game 

 swarms and beasts of prey are abundant, and therefore 

 often seen, the animals that are preyed on are so constantly 

 exposed to assault that, although always on the watch and 

 often very nervous if they suspect the presence of a lion or 

 leopard without being able to place it exactly, they yet 

 grow to reckon their chances with coolness if the creature 

 they dread can be seen, and show a curious indifference to 

 the presence of the marauders if they believe themselves 

 safe; their moments of mad and panic terror are only when 

 the foe actually charges, especially if he has been hitherto 

 unseen. Animals of the open plain, which trust in their 

 speed, seem unconcerned about the presence of a lion if far 

 enough from him to avoid his first rush. Animals of the 

 bush are even more confident in his presence, or at least this 



