Game Animals of India, etc. 



second decades of the last century they were to be 

 met with hi Sind and as far to the east as Palamow 

 and Rewa. 



A lion shot by Lord Harris had a fine mane, and 

 thus disproves the story long current among naturalists 

 as to the maneless character of the " lion of Guzerat," 

 which arose from the description of an immature 

 specimen. If the absence of mane is not a distinctive 

 feature of the Indian lion, it is possible that a claim to 

 racial distinction may be drawn from the colour of the 

 mane, unless indeed too few specimens are now in 

 existence to render the point certain. The present 

 writer has never heard of the occurrence of a black- 

 maned Indian lion ; and in the Badminton Library 

 Lieut.- Colonel Heber Percy states such animals are 

 unknown. As black -maned lions are common in 

 Somaliland and other parts of North-Eastern Africa, if 

 it could be proved that all Indian lions were tawny- 

 maned, there would be prima facie evidence of their 

 right to be regarded as the representatives of a local race. 

 Some light may be thrown on the point by the Persian 

 lion, which will probably be found indistinguishable 

 from the Indian ; and if Persian lions are all tawny- 

 maned, it may be inferred that the same will be the case 

 with their Indian representatives. Felis leo guzeratensis 

 is the distinctive title of the Indian lion. 



The Indian lion seems to be inferior in size to the 

 lion of many parts of Africa, and more nearly equal to 

 the small Somali race. On the other hand, it should 

 be remembered that when an animal is on the verge 

 of extermination its surviving members are scarcely 

 likely to attain the maximum dimensions of their race. 

 Consequently the Indian lion may once have been a 

 larger animal than it has shown itself in modern times ; 

 although the analogy of the lions of Persia and Somali- 

 land is against this view. 



A lion killed many years ago by Captain Smee 

 measured 8 feet 9|- inches in length before skinning ; 



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