INTRODUCTORY. II 



often seen from ten to twenty of these rhino retiring-places bearing fresh signs of 

 these scratching marks, in the course of a single day. 



Now, it strikes me as very odd that anyone writing with such certainty as 

 to the rhino's movements half an hour after this operation should omit any 

 mention of what he actually does during this operation. That he occasionally 

 tosses his dung, too, I am not prepared to deny, but that this is his invariable 

 performance I cannot agree. 



Again, I have often seen it stated, talking of the plain-dwelling lion, that he 

 never roars before hunting, but only after he has fed. This would seem at first sight 

 the most natural thing to do, as it would be supposed that he would frighten game 

 and so warn them if he roared first. However, this again is absolutely contrary to 

 my observations. 



I often wonder if those who make the above statement have gone to the trouble 

 of cutting out and examining carefully that wonderful apparatus in a lion's throat 

 which produces his reverberating roars. I claim that Nature would never have 

 troubled to endow him with such an organ for the useless purpose of roaring after 

 he has fed. 



Where he has been much shot at he naturally gets rather diffident about roaring 

 often, and sometimes hardly roars at all. In places where he has not yet been 

 molested, or where he has been shot at but little, he roars incessantly. I have been 

 in places where lions can be heard roaring nightly directly dark sets in. Moreover, 

 I have had the most direct evidence time and time again that he roars or grunts 

 before and during hunting, in addition to roaring after feeding. Also that he roars 

 when coming for stock. I do not say that he invariably does so, as that would 

 undoubtedly be a misstatement. He roars or not, just as it suits his particular plan 

 of action. In dealing with the lion later on, the uses to which he puts his roaring 

 will be dealt with.* 



Talking of the same lion, the lion of the plains, it is commonly stated that 

 he should not be sought for where game is plentiful. That is to say that, if lion were 

 lying up in a certain spot, there would be no game for some distance. Even the 

 native will persist in saying this. Yet I have time after time found lion lying up right 

 in the heart of game. The first plain-dwelling lions I ever saw were drinking during 

 the day, and a herd of zebra were playing a game of bo-peep with them the while. 



I have seen a herd of hartebeest following two belated lions at less than 

 two hundred yards' distance, and appearing most anxious to have a good look 



* I have also had an article in the Field of February 22nd, 1908, on this subject. 



