CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME. Ill 



After they are weaned she makes a kill and moves the kittens to it, 

 leaving them to eat it while she goes away hunting. She continues 

 moving the kittens from kill to kill until they are about six months old 

 and weigh about 35 pounds for females and 50 pounds for males, by 

 actual scale weight. They now hunt part of the time with their mother 

 until they are about a year old and weigh about 65 pounds for females 

 and 80 pounds for males. The mother then abandons them. The 

 kittens sometimes continue to hunt together for a few months longer, 

 when they finally separate, selecting different beats, but still in the 

 same belt where conditions are the same as where they were raised. 



When fully matured the male weighs from 140 to 160 pounds and 

 measures from 6^ feet to 7-| feet from tip of nose to tip of tail. The 

 female weighs from 90 to 105 pounds and measures from 6 feet to 7 feet 

 from tip to tip. These are actual scale weights and tape measurements. 



The adult male accompanies the female only during the mating period 

 and does not help to feed and care for the young. Lions do not make 

 their kills by lying in wait on the limbs of trees and springing from 

 there. In fact, I have never known of a lion climbing a tree except to 

 avoid the dogs. They tirelessly hunt and stalk their quarry on the 

 ground, taking advantage of every cover, and finally rushing from a 

 distance of 40 or 50 feet. This distance is covered in about a second. 

 A 100-pound lion moving at a velocity of 40 feet per second will strike 

 a blow sufficient to prostrate a yearling steer. The heavy muscles of 

 the lion 's neck, shoulder and f orepaws are tense for the blow, and easily 

 absorb the shock that prostrates his unsuspecting victim, which is then 

 killed by being disemboweled. The liver is eaten first, and then the 

 loins and hams. An examination of probably 100 deer killed by lions 

 showed no evidence of the lion having touched the throat of any of 

 these kills. 



I have found the lion to be normally a solitary and invariably a silent 

 animal. I have never heard that hair-raising scream the lion is sup- 

 posed to utter, and I do not believe it makes any loud sounds, but that 

 the noises usually attributed to it are made by owls and coyotes. On 

 one occasion of which I know, about fifty guests at a mountain resort 

 were listening one evening to the braying of a mule colt, and were told 

 in good faith that they were hearing a mountain lion scream. Every 

 one of these people, including their informant, probably believes to this 

 day that they were hearing a lion. 



Some writers have condemned the mountain lion as being cowardly 

 and unwilling to attack in the open, but they lose sight of the fact that 

 the cat family is short-winded and unable to capture its prey by running 

 it down as the dog family does. If the lion should openly approach 

 his prey and challenge it to combat, his intended victim would imme- 

 diately take to flight, leaving the lion to go hungry. His only means 

 of making a living is to surprise his quarry. In a fight to the death, 

 the mountain lion is more game than the black bear. He will fight with 

 his last breath, when the black bear will quit and cover his head with 

 his paws and bawl like a calf. 



The most reliable method of taking lions is trailing with dogs, and 

 the best dogs for this purpose are fox hounds. A hunter requires at 

 least four dogs, which must l)e liighly trained on lions and thoroughly 

 proof on deer and other game, as there are probably a thousand head 



