LION 



69 



belly. The tail is furnished with a tuft of long black 

 hair at the extremity, as well as a horny spur-like growth. 

 The length of the head and body varies from 6 to 7 feet, 

 with the tail about another 2i feet. The lion is now 

 extinct south of the Orange Biver, and is at present only 

 found within the boundaries of South Africa in South- 



FIG. 18. Black-maned Lion : "Prince." 



West Africa, the Northern Kalahari (Bechuanaland Pro- 

 tectorate), Ehodesia, and from Zululand through the 

 Eastern and North - Eastern Transvaal to Portuguese 

 territory on the east. 



Lions go about in pairs or family parties, and generally 

 inhabit thickets in sandy or rocky localities, or dry reed 

 patches in river-beds, &c. They are chiefly nocturnal 

 in habit, prowling about after sunset in search of the 

 animals which form their food. This consists of the 



