THE LION 181 



ever actually kill a lion we cannot say, but they certainly 

 sometimes harass and cow them and force them to slink off 

 in terror. Lions have been known to eat leopards. With 

 the other man-eaters, the crocodiles, relations are more 

 equal. Unquestionably, lions have on rare occasions been 

 seized, dragged under, and drowned by big crocodiles ; a big, 

 hungry crocodile accustomed to seizing animals while they 

 are drinking at the water's edge would seize a lion as soon 

 as an ox. But the lion also at times kills crocodiles, catch- 

 ing them while they are lying on the shore. A trustworthy 

 elephant hunter whom we know writes that in the neighbor- 

 hood of Lake Rudolf he found a number of skeletons of croco- 

 diles which had evidently been killed by lions; and the na- 

 tives assured him that at this point lions frequently pounced 

 on and ate crocodiles. Doubtless the lion, like other ani- 

 mals, varies in character and habits from place to place; and 

 if by any chance a single lion in some particular locality 

 learns how to prey on an animal not ordinarily attacked, 

 other lions may readily learn to follow his example. At any 

 rate, it sometimes happens that lions in one district as com- 

 pared with those in another district have entirely different 

 customs as to what game they prey on; as I have said above, 

 in some places they make buffalo their especial quarry, 

 whereas in others they never molest the formidable wild cat- 

 tle if zebra and hartebeest are to be obtained. This is like 

 the American grizzly bears, which in some localities feast 

 on carrion, and in others attack cattle at times and kill 

 game; whereas in yet other localities they never kill any- 

 thing larger than a gopher, and pay no attention to the car- 

 cass of a dead animal. 



It is unsafe with any animal, and especially with an ani- 



