328 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 to methenextday. 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, | ft. 10 ins. ; height at shoulder 3 ft. 6 ins. ; and its 
dead weight was 31 stone or 434 lbs. 
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 
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