THE LION 171 



is true of the smaller ones, which are adepts at dodging and 

 twisting through the bushes and among the tree trunks. 

 Once we found a reedbuck lying up in a large patch of reeds 

 which also contained a lioness; the two animals were spend- 

 ing the day in peaceful rest not fifty yards apart. On an- 

 other occasion we found a bushbuck at home in a thick bit 

 of jungle, by a small river, which jungle contained a quantity 

 of lion dens, although only one lion was at home at the time. 

 This lion made off along a dim trail, passing by the bush- 

 buck within ten yards; but these ten yards were filled with 

 small tree trunks, tough, close-growing bushes, and vines, 

 and the bushbuck, although much on the alert, evidently 

 did not think it worth while to move. 



The lion's coloration, taken as a whole, is undoubtedly 

 concealing. Considering all conditions, white is probably 

 the most conspicuous of all colors, and next to white among 

 mammals comes black; while a countershaded yellow dun or 

 dull gray is probably the least conspicuous, the most con- 

 cealing. Town dwellers, or unobservant persons, are some- 

 times surprised to learn that even at night a black animal is 

 ordinarily (although not always) more easily made out than 

 a dull-gray or khaki-colored one; but all Western cowboys 

 know that on the average a white horse is most conspicuous 

 at night, a pied horse next, and then a black horse; while 

 the clay-banks or yellow duns, or the dull grays, are the 

 hardest to see. In the old days while night herding on the 

 Western cattle ranches there would, of course, be nights 

 when I could see nothing, or when all the animals looked 

 alike until I was within arm's length of them; but on the 

 average the colors of the horses and cattle were conspicuous 

 in the order above given. Donkeys, gray and counter- 



