THE KATHIAWAR LION. 743 



the remains of a buffalo, the lions' " kill " in fact. It had, 

 evidently, only been killed on that very morning which would 

 account for the lions being on the move so late in the day, long 

 past their usual hour. 



I believe it is a general idea that, as a rule, tigers avoid attack- . 

 ing a full grown buffalo. My experience of tigers is somewhat 

 limited ; but I can safely state, as regards the lion, that it has no 

 hesitation in attacking a buffalo, when it comes in its way. 

 I was once shown a huge buffalo, which had been attacked by a 

 solitary lion, and which according to the owner, a Babari, had sprung 

 upon it from behind. The buffalo had succeeded in shaking it off, 

 but the poor beast was dreadfully clawed and slowly dying when 

 I saw it. On another occasion I came upon a Babari lamenting 

 over one of several buffaloes he was grazing at the time. He 

 explained that not half an hour before my arrival a lion, whose 

 tracks I had noticed on the road as I came along, had, in spite of 

 his having tried to drive it away by shouting, wantonly attacked 

 this particular buffalo and torn away its udder. It had made no 

 attempt to kill the beast in the usual way, and had bolted without, 

 doing any further damage, but the buffalo, a full grown animal, 

 was done for. 



To continue, I very nearly succeeded in shooting another lion 

 in these same Khokra jungles a short time afterwards. I came 

 upon it, by the merest chance one morning when out-stalking with 

 one of the Gir pagis. We were first made aware of its presence by 

 its suddenly starting to roar, not one hundred yards away from us. 

 Thinking, quite wrongly as it turned out, that it was roaring over a 

 " kill," I tried to stalk it, the pagi following me ; but we had not 

 advanced very far before the latter touched my arm and pointed in 

 the direction of a thick clump of bushes not twenty yards away ; 

 It was all very fine of him to whisper " Maro, Sahib ! " I could see 

 nothing until there was a rustle, and the lion was off withort 

 giving me a shot. I ran after it, but the chance was gone, and I never 

 saw it again. There was no " kill." It was probably calling to 

 its mate, but its roar had the effect of attracting all the animals 

 in the jungle to the spot, for spotted deer and sambur were calling 

 in every direction ! 



