256 THE LAND OF THE LION 
I am inclined to think that lion usually hunt. at a long 
distance from the place where the family lie up for the 
day. When the bands are divided up into twos and threes 
this may not be so. But whenever I came on large bands 
of lion I never found kills nearby. (I give this for what 
it may be worth.) My idea is they hunt far away from 
their lair. When two or more lionesses and a partly 
grown family accompany one large male, they make a 
family dwelling place that there is no mistaking. I have 
examined several of these but never found in or near any 
of them so much as a scrap of bone or meat. When the 
lion family jogs homeward it does so very silently. ‘There 
is no loud grunting indulged in; a very soft, low purring 
grunt now and then betrays their conclave, that is all. 
When shot into and angered they will grunt as they 
move off, and snarl as they crouch or wait about in the 
grass, undecided whether to move on as you advance toward 
them or no. [I incline to believe that these large parties 
are not as dangerous to follow, when one or two of them 
are wounded, as a single lion or a lion and lioness, one of 
them wounded, would be. One of the gang moves on, 
none of the gang likes being left behind, so, instead of 
attacking they keep on the move, the wounded bringing 
up the rear. . 
A lion wounded to death will, as I once heard him, 
roar terribly when roused from his lair and about to charge. 
But an unwounded lion coming on thrusts the head forward 
and the ears back, shows his teeth and make no sound but 
a low snarl. 
The roaring lion is the lion calling to his mate or sig- 
nalling in some way his presence, either to frighten the 
game not yet caught or to call a friend to, or warn an 
enemy from, game that has been caught. 
The distances which that sonorous sound can travel 
are great. Ordinarily hearing it, you fancy the beast 
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