196 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



dant grass near my cabin. The first snow came. 

 Twenty-four hours later the mule was passing 

 a boulder near my cabin when a lion leaped upon 

 him and throttled him. Tracks and scattered 

 hair showed that the struggle had been intense 

 though brief. 



Not a track led to the boulder upon which 

 the lion had lain in wait, and, as the snow had 

 fallen twenty-four or more hours before the 

 tragedy, he must have been there at least 

 twenty-four hours, and he may have waited 

 twice as long. 



Another time I frightened a lion from a cliff 

 where he was waiting for a near-by flock of 

 bighorn sheep to come within leaping distance. 

 Though it was nearly forty-eight hours since 

 snow had ceased falling, not a track led to the 

 lion's watching place or blind. 



The lion probably is the game hog of the 

 wilds. Often I have read his red records in the 

 snow. On one occasion he killed nine mountain 

 sheep in one attack. He ate a few pounds of 

 one of them and never returned to the kill. 

 On another occasion he killed eleven domestic 

 sheep in one night. Inside of twenty-four 

 hours a lion killed a doe, a fawn, a porcupine, 

 a grouse, and was making a try for a moun- 

 tain sheep when I appeared on snowshoes. 

 He seems to prefer colts or horses for food. 



