BREEDING OF THE LION IN CAPTIVITY. 27 



When the cubs are about eight to twelve months old they begin hunting for themselves by 

 attacking smaller animals, such as Sheep and Goats, under their parents' direction. The period 

 between the ages of one and two years is the worst part of the Lion's existence, as far as the inhabi- 

 tants of the district are concerned, for they " kill not only to support themselves, but also in order to 

 learn how to kill." 



At the age of three the young Lion's education is complete ; he leaves his father's house, and 

 begins to think of getting a house and a wife for himself, and then in her company he " roars after his 

 prey and seeks his meat from God " for the rest of his career. He is not full-grown until the age of 

 eight, when he may be considered as quite adult ; and for many years to come revels in the conscious- 

 ness of unconquerable strength and power, and oppresses all inferior creatures to his heart's content. 



But even to king Leo " life is not all beer and skittles ;" there is suffering and work to be borne 

 and done. The lower creatures " groan and travail " with us ; and we find disease where we should 

 least expect to find it, namely, in the wild creatures that at their will freely roam the desert. 

 "The Garni vora, too, become diseased and mangy. Lions become lean, and perish miserably by 

 reason of the decay of the teeth. When a Lion becomes too old to catch game, he frequently takes to 

 killing Goats in the villages. A woman or child happening to go out at night falls a prey too ; and as 

 this is his only source of subsistence now, he continues it. From this circumstance has arisen the idea 

 that the Lion, when he has once tasted human flesh, loves it better than any other. A man-eater is, 

 invariably, an old Lion. And, when he overcomes his fear of man so far as to come to villages for 

 Goats, the people remark, ' His teeth are worn, he will soon kill men.' They at once acknowledge 

 the necessity of instant action, and turn out to kill him. When living far away from population, or 

 when, as is the case in some parts, he entertains a wholesome dread of the Bushmen and Bakalahari, 

 as soon as either disease or old age overtakes him, he begins to catch Mice and other small Rodents, 

 and even to eat grass. The natives, observing undigested vegetable matter in his droppings, follow up 

 his trail in the certainty of finding him, scarcely able to move, under some tree, and despatch him 

 without difficulty. The grass may have been eaten as medicine, as is observed in Dogs." 



Before leaving the subject of the life and death of our great Carnivore, it will be as well to 

 add a few words as to its breeding in captivity. It is stated by a naturalist who probably knows 

 more about the matter than any other man,* that " the Lion appears to breed more freely than any 

 other species of Felis, and the number of young at a birth is greater, not unfrequently four, and some- 

 times five, being produced in a litter. It is remarkable that these animals breed more freely in 

 travelling collections (wild-beast shows) than in zoological gardens. Probably the constant excite- 

 ment and irritation produced by moving from place to place, or change of air, may have considerable 

 influence in the matter. 



" A very extraordinary malformation, or defect, has frequently occui-red among the Lions pro- 

 duced during the last thirty years, in the Regent's Park. This imperfection consists in the roof 

 of the mouth being open. The palatal bones do not meet ; the animal, is, therefore, unable to suck, 

 and consequently always dies. This abnormal condition has not been confined to the young of any 

 one pair of Lions, but many Lions that have died in the Zoological Gardens, and not in any way 

 related to each other, have, from time to time, produced these malformed young, the cause of which 

 appears to me quite unaccountable." 



Lion-hunting has not yet become, like Tiger-hunting, a regularly organised sport, entered upon at 

 a particular season by large parties of Europeans, who think far more of the fun of the thing than 

 of ridding the world of destroying beasts. The sport of Lion-hunting, on the other hand, is only 

 undertaken by an individual traveller, now and then, who has to take nearly the whole of the 

 danger on his own shoulders, and is quite without the extraneous aids afforded by regiments of 

 Elephant-mounted fellow-hunters, and armies of beaters. The rest of the Lion-killing is done, not 

 for sport, but for use, to get rid of a beast which has decimated flocks, and put friends and neighbours 

 to a cruel death. In all parts where the Lion is found, the natives have one or more ways of trying 

 to get rid of him : sometimes meeting him in open fight, sometimes destroying him in a more 

 underhand manner, by pitfalls, or the like. 



* Mr. Bartlett, the able Superintendent of the Zoological Gardens. 



