LION. 357 



come across, as a normal rule thej' kill their own prey. This is ahvaj-s effected by 

 cautious stalking, followed by a sudilen final rush : and, although it is said that two 

 or more lions will occasionallj- combine to drive game in a given direction, when it 

 can be seized by another member of the party, the cats almost invariably pui-sue 

 their prey alone. The general antipathy of the cat tribe to water is proverbial, but 

 in the swampj- sandarbans of Lower Bengal, the tiger has often been observed 

 swimming from one marshy island to another ; and the fishing cat of India largely 

 subsists on fresh-water fish captured by itself. 



The Liox (Felis led). 



Till well on in the present centurj* the title of " King of Beasts " was almost 

 universall}- bestowed upon the lion b}- writers on natural historj^, on account of its 

 generally majestic appearance, and the assumed nobility and fierceness of its 

 character. Of late years, liowever, there has been a strong tendcncj^ on the part of 

 those who have had the best opportunities of observing the animal in its native 

 haunts, to depose the lion from the proud position it had so long occupied. The 

 reasons for this change of view appear to be that when roaming abroad by daylight 

 the lion, as Mr. F. C. Selous, tlie well-known African hunter, informs us, does not 

 cany his head so high up as he ought to do in order to be entitled to the epithet 

 majestic : while his disposition, instead of being noble and fearless, is considered by 

 Livingstone and other writei-s to be more correctly described as cowardly and mean. 

 Although it is impossible to doubt the accuracy of such observations as to its tnie 

 character, yet the magnificent proportions of the animal, coupled with the splendid 

 mane decorating the head and chest of the males, render the lion bj' far the most 

 striking in appearance of tiie whole of the Cat tribe, and, indeed, of all the 

 Carnivores. 



In common with the other large cats of the Old World, the lion has the pupil 

 of the eye circular ; but it is at once distinguished from all the other members of 

 the familj' by the long hair growing on the head, neck, and shoulders of the males 

 to form the flowing mane. This mane varies considerably in size and colour in 

 difterent individuals, but, contrarj' to what has often been stated, is present in 

 Indian as well as in African lions. Frequently, although by no means invariablj^ 

 the long hair of the mane is continued as a fringe down the middle line of the 

 belly. Another distinctive characteristic of the male lion is the bnish of long 

 hair at the tip of the tail. In the middle of this brush of hair, at the very 

 extremity of the tail, is a small homy appendage surrounded by a tuft. Much 

 writing has been devoted as to the use of this so-called " thorn " in the lion's tail ; 

 one old story being that it was emploj'ed to rouse the animal to fury when the 

 tail was lashed against the flanks. 



The hair on the remainder of the body of the male lion, and on the whole of 

 both the head and body in the female, is short and close. In the adults of both 

 sexes the colour of the body-hair is the well-known yellowish-brown, or tawny, 

 but the tint varies in intensity in different individuals. The long hair of the male's 

 mane may vary from ta-\\ny to a blackish-brown. Young lion-cubs are marked 

 with transverse dark stripes running dowTi the sides of the bodj-, and likewise by 



