GAMBIAN LION.—Leo Ganbianus. 
Africa as a species distinct from the Lion of Southern Africa, and have therefore given to 
the animal a different specific name, which is derived from the country in which it is 
found. Whatever may be said of the distinction between the Asiatic and African Lion, 
there seem to be scarcely sufficient grounds for considering the very slight differences 
which are found in Lions of Africa to be a sufficient warrant for constituting separate 
species. They may be permanent varieties, and even in that case are not nearly so 
different from each other as the mastiff from the spaniel. 
From all accounts, however, it seems that the habits of all Lions are very similar, and 
that a Lion acts like a Lion, whether he resides in Africa or Asia. 
We all are familiar with the selferatulatory halfthreatening mixture between a purr 
and a growl, which is emitted by the domestic cat when she has laid her paws on a mouse 
or a bird, and is divided in mind between the complacent consciousness of having won a 
prize by her own efforts, and the ever present fear that it should escape or be taken away. 
If we substitute a Lion for a cat, and suppose ourselves to be in the position of the 
victiin, we may partly realize the feeling which must have filled the mind of a recent 
traveller and hunter in Southern Africa. 
He had built for himself a “skiirm,” or slight rifle-pit, composed of stones, logs, 
and other convenient substances, and had watched during the night in hopes of finding 
game worthy the sacrifice of time and sleep. Nothing, however, had come within range of 
the concealed hunter excepting a white rhinoceros, which was shot, and fell dead on the 
spot. Wearied out with the prolonged vigil, the hunter dropped asleep, and lay for some 
time wrapped in unconsciousness. 
But the active desert life requires that its votary should be ever prepared for any 
emergency, and even during sleep should be capable of instantaneous awaking ready for 
