372 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



is about to outdistance it and escape, it will seize it wherever it can, by the rump or tail, in an 

 endeavour to check it. 



The bush-lion, owing to its greater cunning and more roving habits, is most difficult to bag, 

 and, as it seldom leaves thick cover, is seldom seen. It is generally only when it has killed stock 

 or man that it is obtainable, and then only when the khabar is fresh, by following the trail if it 

 has dragged the carcase away, or by sitting over the body the next night, if it has been left. 



Size of Lions. — The only accurate method of measuring a lion is to measure the animal as it 

 lies after having been killed. All measurements of skins afterwards are practically valueless, as 

 their size depends on the weather at the time they are drying and the amount they have been 

 stretched in pegging-out. 



There is a story told about an official in this country who had just killed a lion and the skin 

 was being dried and stretched at the back of his house. During this process a visitor called and 

 was met at the door by the official, and they stood there talking. 



On being asked what the measurement was, he called out to his wife, who was at the back 

 of the house, "My dear, what is the measurement of the lion I shot yesterday?" Unaware of 

 the presence of the visitor, she answered, " It is 10 feet 6 inches now, but it is still stretching." 



The general method of measuring a lion is to take it just as it lies and to tape from its nose 

 to the tip of the tail, the measure passing over the head between the ears and down the spine. 



Such a measurement does not really convey an idea of the actual size of the body, for a 

 small lion with a long tail might measure more than a larger animal with a shorter tail. However, 

 this is the recognised method by which the sizes of lions are compared. 



I am inclined to think that red-maned lions run bigger than do the darker-maned types. In 

 any case, the largest amongst those I have measured have belonged to this type. One of them 

 measured 9 feet 6 inches, which I take to be a very large measurement. Unfortunately, I did 

 not record the length of this animal to the root of the tail — a measurement which would afford an 

 indication of the size of the body. His photo, also, was a failure. The black-maned lion shown 

 in the photograph by page 6 measured 6 feet 2 inches from the tip of the nose to the root 

 of the tail. 



Six and a half feet would be a very big animal measured in this way. Unfortunately, 

 measurements taken in this way must necessarily be taken by different individuals, and so are 

 not of the same value as a basis of comparison as are measurements of horns all taken in the 

 same way and by the same man, as are found in " Records of Big Game." 



Two settlers who have measured a number of lions, both killed by themselves and by 

 sportsmen in their neighbourhood, tell me that the biggest measurement they have ever taken 

 was 9 feet 5 inches. 



If the tape is pulled across from the head to the root of the tail, instead of being made to 

 follow the hollow of the back, a reading of one to two inches less would be recorded. The 

 correct method is to follow the spine. 



Sise of Teeth. — The size of the canines differs in a great degree. Natives have told me that 

 lions dwelling in caves have larger teeth than those that lie up in the open. There seems to be 

 no reason why this should be so, but the only two cave-dwellers I have obtained had larger 

 canines than those I obtained elsewhere. 



Lion Fat. — This is much prized as a medicine among Swahilis and also Indians. It is 

 boiled down and sold in bottles, fetching at Mombasa as much as twenty to thirty rupees 

 a bottle. 



