Game Animals of India, etc. 



THE INDIAN LION 



{Felis leo guzeratensis) 



Native Names. — Sher^ Bahar-sher^ and Singh^ Hindu- 

 stani ; Vntia-bagh (camel-coloured tiger), Guze- 

 RATi ; Sawach in Kathiawar ; Shingal^ Bengali ; 

 Suh (lion), and Siming (lioness), Kashmiri ; Rastar^ 

 Brahui. 



(Plate viii, fig. i) 



As this volume makes no pretence to be a natural 

 history, it will be unnecessary to indicate in what 

 respects Carnivora differ from Ungulata, to which the 

 foregoing pages are devoted. Neither is there any 

 occasion to refer to the distinctive characteristics of the 

 Felidc€^ or cat tribe, of which the lion stands first on 

 the list, since such details are to be found in natural 

 history works. Moreover, the lion itself is such a 

 well-known and familiar animal, that detailed descrip- 

 tion of its external features and colour would be 

 superfluous. 



The tiger being the great Indian cat par excellence^ 

 while the lion occupies a similar position in the fauna 

 of Africa, it is apt to be forgotten that the latter has 

 equal claims to be regarded as an Asiatic animal, and 

 that although verging on extinction in India, it is still 

 comparatively abundant in parts of Persia and Meso- 

 potamia, as it probably once was in India, where, 

 however, its range seems to have been restricted to 

 the central and north-western districts. 



That it was once a familiar animal in India is proved 

 by the frequency with which its name has been adopted 

 by distinguished native families, as exemplified by 

 the names Ranjit Singh, and Ranbir Singh among the 

 Sikh chieftains of the Punjab, and Sher Ali among the 

 Mohammedan rulers of Afghanistan. 



286 



