THE STORY OF THE LION. 



Ill 



fa<- 1 is that between the animal witli hardly a vestige of a mane, and the far 

 handsomer but much less common beast, with a long flowing black mane, 

 every possible intermediate variety may be found. On one occasion I shot 

 two old male lioiis, which I found lying together under the same bush, both 

 of which agreed as near as possible in size, but while the one was full-maned, 

 with a very dark-colored fur, the other was very yellow and had but little 

 mane. Shortly after, with a brother sportsman, I again met with a dark, 

 full-maned lion in company with a nearly maneless light-colored one. Of still 

 more importance was the killing of a lioness with three cubs, of which two 



AFRICAN UON, 



were males and one a female. Of the tw^o male cubs, the one, owing to the 

 dark color of the tips of the hair, was almost black, while the other was 

 reddish-yellow. The skin of the female cub was also of a light color. Now 

 I 'firmly believe that the two male cubs would have grown up, the one into 

 a dark-skinned, black-maned lion, the other into a yellow lion, with but little 

 mane; and further than this, I believe that the two pairs of males I have 

 mentioned above were cubs of the same litters, and had been hunting in couples 

 since their cubhood. 



It seems quite probable that the lions of one district may differ to a certain 



