

THE LION PLAYS SOFT PEDAL in 



other only partly eaten. So this lion following 

 me was well fed and was trailing me to amuse 

 herself or satisfy her curiosity. Still back- 

 tracking her, I found that the day before this 

 big kill she had killed two other sheep. Think- 

 ing that she might return to this last kill for 

 another meal I came back to it the following 

 evening, but nothing had been to the carcass. 

 The lion will return to its kill if it cannot seize 

 another meal of warm blood. 



The mountain lion is the big game-hog of the 

 wild. He probably plays less than most large 

 animals and seems to take his relaxation in fol- 

 lowing people or in killing game to excess. Many 

 careful hunters say that the lion kills on the 

 average two deer each week the year round. 

 If he have opportunity to kill he slays as long 

 as there is anything within reach. I have 

 known him to kill four deer in a half day; and 

 as he made no use of these he may recently 

 have killed something else. 



While crossing the Continental Divide an- 

 other winter I came upon a lion track and fol- 

 lowed it. The lion had crossed from the head 

 of a gulch on the Pacific slope directly to a ridge 

 above timberline on the Atlantic side. He did 

 not wander, and evidently was bound for a 

 definite place down in the woods. 



Coming upon the tracks of another lion, he 



