366 CARNIVORES. 



As a rule, lions commence to roar with the falling shades of evening, and 

 continue with longer or shorter intervals thi'oughout the night ; but Gordon 

 Gumming states that in secluded and undisturbed districts he has frequenth' heard 

 the roaring sustained as late as 9 or 10 o'clock in the morning on bright and sunny 

 days. During cloudy and rainy weather they will however roar, although in a 

 lower tone, throughout the day. 



Although in some districts lious are commonh* met either alone, or in pairs of 

 males and females, this does not seem to be generally the case in the interior of 

 South Africa, where, according to Mr. Selous, it is more usual to meet with four or 

 five lions consorting together, while parties of from ten to twelve are by no means 

 rare. Such a party of twelve would, in the experience of the same observer, 

 probably comprise about two adult males, three or four full-grown lionesses, and 

 half a dozen large cubs, which, except for their somewhat slighter build, might 

 easily be mistaken for mature females. On one occasion Mr. Selous mentions that 

 he came across a party consisting of a lion, tliree full-grown lionesses, and three 

 small cubs : and he adds that if each of these females had possessed a pair of large 

 cubs, such an assemblage would have been right!}- termed a party of ten lions. It 

 was probably such a part}', although comprising more adult males, that Lord 

 Eandolph Churchill encountered during his recent journey in Mashonaland, when 

 in company \\ith his hunter Lee. " We were riding along," writes his lordship in 

 his Letters from Mashonaland, " through a small open glade covered with high 

 grass, Lee a few yards ahead of me, when I suddenly saw him turn round, crj' out 

 something to me, and point with his finger ahead. I looked, and saw lolloping 

 along through and over the grass, about forty yai-ds ofl", a yellow animal about as 

 big as a small bullock. It flashed across me that it was a lion — the last thing in 

 the world that I was thinking of. I was going to dismount and take aim, foi' I 

 was not frightened at the idea of firing at a retreating lion, but Lee called out in 

 succession five or six times, ' Look, look 1 ' at the same time pointing with his finger 

 in different directions in front. I saw, to my astonishment, and rather to it\\ 

 dismay, that the glade appeared to be alive with lions. There they were, trooping 

 and trotting along ahead of us like a lot of enormous dogs — great j-ellow objects, 

 offering such a sight as I had never dreamed of. Lee turned to me and said, 

 ' What will you do ?' I Baid, ' I suppose we must go after them,' thinking all the 

 time that I was making a very foolish answer. This I am the more convinced of 

 now, for Lee told me afterwards that many ol<l hunters in South Africa will turn 

 away from such a troop of lions as we had before us. We trotted on after them a 

 short distance to where the gi-ass was more open, the lions trotting along ahead of us 

 in the most composed and leisurely fashion, very different from the galloping ofl" of a 

 surprised and startled antelope." Lord Eandolph Churchill himself counted no less 

 than se\^en lions, while his hunter believed that there were several more in the party. 



When a male lion has selected a female partner the union very generally 

 lasts for the greater portion or the entire lives of the pair. From the evidence 

 of .specimens kept in capti\'ity it is known that from two to six cubs may be 

 produced at a birth, at least in the captive condition. It is stated, however, that 

 in India wild lionesses do not produce more than two or three cubs at a birth ; 

 and Mr. Selous is of opinion that three is the usual number in South Africa, where 



