LION 419 



leaving the carcase, lions often cover it with rubbish, leaves, etc., 

 and on their return almost invariably drag it to another spot, even 

 if it is moved only a few yards. A hungry lion will eat almost any- 

 thing ; and I have taken a porcupine's head and portions of a large rat 

 from the stomach of a lioness. It is not uncommon to find lions with 

 porcupine -quills stuck all over the nose, face, and paws, and I have 

 seen a lioness completely blinded with them. A young or lightly-built 

 lioness is capable of climbing a tree, and there is an instance of a 

 young male climbing into a low bushy tree, although such a feat would 

 probably be impossible to a full-grown male lion. I once measured 

 the distance covered in a single spring by a heavy lioness, from a 

 bank 4 feet high, which was 21^ feet ; but this seems to have been an 

 unusual exertion. 



" Lions never carry even the smallest antelope clear of the ground, 

 but seize it by the head or neck and drag the carcase ; and, as a matter 

 of fact, it is a physical impossibility for so comparatively low-standing 

 an animal as a lion to lift and carry even an impala clear of the ground, 

 much less an ox or even a calf, to say nothing of leaping a fence with 

 such a burden. Lions, indeed, seldom leap any fence, but wriggle 

 themselves under or force their way through. They never suck the 

 blood of a victim, although they will eat the clotted blood which collects 

 inside a carcase. They are cannibals on rare occasions, and like 

 their meat not only high, but in an advanced state of putrefaction, and 

 prefer it to be killed for them. Man-eaters are rare in South Africa, 

 and I have only met one, a cunning old lioness, which I finally shot. 

 Lionesses have no fixed breeding-season ; but the cubs are generally 

 born in March and April, two or three being the usual number in a 

 litter, although there may be four. Their eyes are fully open at birth ; 

 and they are barred on the body with transverse stripes, and thickly 

 spotted on the limbs. The fur is thick and woolly. At from five to 

 six months old they accompany their mother in search of prey ; and 

 game is fearfully mangled by young lions of ten or twelve months old, 

 when undergoing tuition in the art of killing under their parents' eyes. 

 Comparatively few male cubs reach maturity ; hence the disparity 

 between the numbers of each sex. The males are said to be mono- 

 gamous ; but as single lions are often seen with two or three lionesses, 

 and the relative numbers of the two sexes is so disproportionate, I 

 regard the statement as open to question. 



" Lions may be systematically hunted in three ways : by visiting 

 their own ' kill ' or a placed bait between dawn and daylight ; by 

 night-watching at a bait or ' kill ' ; and by tracking them to their lairs 



