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BIG GAME SHOOTING 



shoulder is covered with mane, as it is very commonly in the 

 menagerie lion ; but, as a rule, the whole shoulder of the wild 

 lion is devoid of mane. Very often a large heavy full-grown 

 male lion, a splendid animal in strength and symmetry, will 

 have scarcely any mane at all, and his skin is not then a hand- 

 some trophy. 



There are very few authentic statistics regarding the weight 

 of lions, and I am unfortunately not able to cast much light 

 on this subject. Sir Samuel Baker, in ' Wild Beasts and their 

 Ways,' gives no actual statistics regarding the weight of any 

 particular lions, but appears to think that full-grown well-fed 

 males of this species would on an average weigh from five to 

 six hundred pounds. Not long ago a question was asked at 

 my suggestion through the columns of the ' Field ' newspaper on 

 this very subject, but with one exception no satisfactory infor- 

 mation was elicited. The exception to which I refer was a 

 communication from Mr. William Yellowly, of South Shields, 

 and ran as follows : 



In reply to the query in last week's issue of the ' Field ' anent 

 the weight of lions, I beg to state that a fine black-maned lion, 

 which died in the late Mrs. Edmond's menagerie at Warrington 

 on February 18, 1875, was sent * rne the next day. The following 

 measurements before skinning will give an idea of its magnificent 

 proportions : Length from nose to root of tail, 6 ft. 10 ins. ; from 

 nose to tip of tail, 10 ft. ; girth behind shoulder, 4 ft. 9 ins. ; girth 

 of upper arm, i ft. 10 ins. ; height at shoulder 3 ft. 6 ins. ; and its 

 dead weight was 3 1 stone or 434 Ibs. 



These statistics appear to me to be perfectly reliable, and I 

 regard them as the carefully taken weight and measurements 

 of a large well-fed menagerie lion. How the measurement for 

 length was taken from nose to tip of tail I do not know, but I 

 should fancy along the curves of the head and back, which 

 would make it an inch or two more than if it had been taken 

 in a perfectly straight line between two pegs, one driven into 

 the ground at the nose, and the other at the extremity of the 

 tail of the dead animal. I will now give the few statistics 



