550 Great and Small Game of Africa 



drink at frequent intervals during a meal. Their lairs may be almost 

 anywhere : in a dense reed-bed, an impenetrable thorn-thicket, a hollow 

 full of long grass, or under any thick patch of bush ; but only in quite 

 undisturbed country do they lie up by their kill during the day. They 

 roar loudest on dark frosty nights, and but seldom on bright moonlight 

 nights and in sultry weather. In disturbed districts they become very 

 silent at all times, and utter no sound when prowling for a kill. In wet, 

 cloudy weather they are very restless, and often travel great distances. In 

 such weather I have often heard them uttering their low muffled moans 

 throughout the day ; and it is at such times that they are most likely to 

 attack a camp. Two, three, or four lions are more frequently encountered 

 than solitary individuals, and larger numbers often band together for 

 mutual assistance in securing their prey. The largest troop I have seen 

 numbered twelve individuals ; but I have heard of fifteen. Lions kill horn- 

 less animals and small antelope by biting them in the throat or at the back 

 of the neck ; or, like the larger antelopes, the animal may be rushed from 

 in front, seized by the throat, and thrown back on to its haunches, thus 

 frequently dislocating the neck, and sometimes breaking a leg. Heavier 

 animals are often dragged down by the flanks, or are seized by the 

 shoulders, and the nose clutched and dragged down by one paw ; the first 

 mad forward plunge of the victim brings it down on to its head, and the 

 neck is at once broken. Last year I saw a huge lion pulling down a 

 wounded buffalo bull in this fashion. I never met with an instance of a 

 lion deliberately killing an animal with a blow of its paw, but I have 

 witnessed proof of the terrible strength of such a blow. 1 In chasing its 

 prey, however, a lion often strikes a disabling blow over the loins or on the 

 hind-leg, and I have seen a wart-hog boar, a hysna, and several impala 

 that have thus been struck down. When lions have secured a kill they 

 disembowel it very neatly, through an opening in the flank, then bury the 



1 In H.uim, of Wild Game, p. +o + . 



