22 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



claws and the whole exercise of their enormous 

 strength, were tearing at it and trying to pull it 

 down. Two of the lions were shot dead by the 

 hunters as they hung on to the dying buffalo, the 

 third was wounded but escaped. Buffaloes, although 

 much preyed upon by lions, defend themselves 

 plucky beasts that they are most gallantly whenever 

 they get a fair chance, and many a lion must have 

 been gored to death by them. A troop of cow 

 buffaloes have been known to keep at bay for a 

 whole night several lions bent on attacking their 

 calves, and to have successfully repelled all their 

 attacks. 



Lions kill their prey in various ways either by a 

 bite or bites in the throat, tearing the jugular vein 

 and causing strangulation, or by biting at the back 

 of the neck just behind the ears. Sometimes the 

 prey is killed by the lion springing on to the shoulders 

 of the animal it attacks, and wrenching the head 

 round with one of the fore-paws ; the neck of the 

 unfortunate beast is thus broken, either by the terrific 

 wrench given by the lion, or by falling upon its head 

 at the same moment, or by a combination of both 

 disasters. Having slain its quarry, the lion usually 

 tears out the entrails, and, gathering them into a 

 heap, covers them with soil, very much as a dog 

 buries a bone for future use. Before doing this it 

 will usually eat forthwith such tit-bits as the liver, 

 heart, lungs, and kidneys ; sometimes, however, the 

 beast will devour the entrails or great parts of them 

 at once. Usually the brute claws open the lower 



