76 AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



the end of the tail, the same drawing-in of the fore- 

 paws beneath the chest, and then the wavy move- 

 ment of the loins just before the final rush. As 

 lions are very nocturnal in their habits and usually 

 hunt by night, it is, of course, very unusual to see 

 them approach and kill their prey, but from the 

 above related experience I imagine that every 

 movement made by a lion in approaching and 

 finally making a rush upon an antelope or zebra is 

 exactly represented in miniature by a cat stalking a 

 bird or rabbit. It is as well to remember that if a 

 lion, after standing for a short time growling at you 

 and whisking its tail backwards and forwards round 

 its hind-legs, suddenly stiffens it and throws it 

 straight into the air at right angles to the line of its 

 back two or three times, it is a danger-signal and 

 means charging. A lion may often charge without 

 throwing its tail straight up, but I believe that it 

 will never throw its tail up without charging. 



The African lion appears to be more gregarious 

 than any other of the Felidae, and the male is 

 certainly addicted to polygamy. Often a lion or a 

 lioness may live and hunt for a time by itself, and 

 very old animals are probably always solitary, as 

 an old lion would be driven away from the females 

 by younger males, and an old female would probably 

 be badly treated by younger animals of both sexes. 

 Sometimes two or even three males will hunt 

 together for a time. More often a male lion 

 may be met with accompanied by from one to four 

 females, some of which latter may be followed by 

 cubs of different ages and sizes. A family party 

 consisting of one old male lion, three or four adult 

 females, and several cubs, some of which may stand 

 almost as high at the shoulder as their mothers, 

 would constitute what the old Boer hunters would 

 have called "en trop leeuws " (a troop of lions). 

 In parts of Africa where game is, or was, very 



