41 8 CAT TRIBE 



Portuguese East Africa, particularly near Jakota, which is infested with 

 them, they are probably more numerous than in any other part of 

 South Africa. 



" Lions drink once daily, either between 6 and 9 p.m. or between 

 3 and 6 A.M., but sometimes oftener in hot weather ; after a full feed 

 at night they invariably drink before seeking their lairs, and if the kill 

 is near water, they drink at frequent intervals during a meal. Their 

 lairs may be almost anywhere — in a dense reed-bed, an impenetrable 

 thorn-thicket, a hollow full of long grass, or under any thick patch of 

 bush ; but only in quite undisturbed country do lions lie up by their 

 ' kill ' during the day. They roar loudest on dark frosty nights, and 

 seldom on bright moonlight nights and in sultry weather. In disturbed 

 districts they become very silent at all times, and utter no sound when 

 prowling. In wet cloudy weather they are very restless, and often 

 travel great distances ; and in such weather I have often heard them 

 uttering low muffled moans throughout the day. It is at such times 

 that they are most likely to attack a camp. Two, three, or four 

 lions are more frequently encountered than solitary individuals, and 

 larger numbers often band together for mutual assistance in securing 

 prey. The largest troop I ever saw numbered twelve individuals ; but 

 I have heard of fifteen. Lions kill hornless animals and small 

 antelopes by biting them in the throat or at the back of the neck ; 

 but larger antelopes may be rushed from in front, seized by the 

 throat and thrown back on to the haunches, thus frequently dislocating 

 the neck, and sometimes breaking a leg. Heavier animals are often 

 dragged down by the flanks, or are seized by the shoulders, and the 

 nose clutched and dragged down by one paw ; the first mad forward 

 plunge of the victim bringing it down on its head, when the neck is at 

 once broken. Once I saw a lion pull down a wounded buffalo bull in 

 this fashion ; but I never met with an instance of a lion deliberately 

 killing an animal with a blow of its paw, although I have witnessed 

 proof of the terrible strength of such a blow. In chasing its prey a 

 lion, however, often strikes a disabling blow over the loins or on the 

 hind-leg ; and I have seen a wart-hog, a hysena, and several impala 

 thus struck down. When lions have secured a ' kill,' they disembowel 

 it neatly, through an opening in the flank, and then bury the entrails, 

 which are very rarely eaten. The ears are often bitten off, and the 

 tongue torn out. The heart and lungs are first eaten ; then the soft 

 flesh of the buttocks or inside of the thighs is torn off and bolted in 

 great mouthfuls with pieces of skin attached ; while the brisket and 

 adjacent soft- parts are devoured last, if the animal is fat. When 



