The Lion 551 



entrails, which I have never known to be eaten, though Mr. Selous has 

 recorded a single instance of this being done. The ears are often bitten off, 

 and the tongue torn out. The viscera are first eaten, then the soft flesh of 

 the buttocks or inside of the thighs is torn off and bolted in great mouth- 

 fuls with pieces of skin attached ; the brisket and adjacent soft parts are 

 then eaten if the animal is fat, but no hard bones. When leaving their kill, 

 they often scrape up a quantity of rubbish, leaves, etc., on to it, and when 

 returning to it again, almost invariably drag it to another spot, even if they 

 only move it a few yards. A hungry lion will eat almost anything. I have 

 taken a porcupine's head and portions of a large field-rat from the stomach 

 of a lioness. It is a common thing to find lions stuck all over the nose, face, 

 and paws with porcupine-quills, and I have seen a lioness (shot by my friends 

 Messrs. Barber and Bowker) completely blinded with them. A young or 

 lightly-built lioness is quite capable of climbing a tree, and there is an 

 authentic instance of a young male climbing into a low bushy tree ; l but 

 I do not believe that a full-grown male lion could do this. I have measured 

 the distance covered in a single spring by a heavy lioness, from a bank 4 

 feet high, 21^ feet, but I think they seldom exert themselves to this extent. 

 Even at the present day there exist misconceptions regarding lions. They 

 never carry even the smallest antelope clear of the ground, but seize it by 

 head or neck and Jrag it. It is a physical impossibility for so comparatively 

 low-standing an animal as a lion to lift and carry even an impala clear of 

 the ground, much less an ox or even a calf, to say nothing of leaping a 

 fence with such a burden. Lions seldom spring any fence, but will wriggle 

 themselves under or force their way through. They never " suck the 

 blood " of a victim, but will eat the clotted blood which collects inside a 

 wounded beast. They are cannibals on rare occasions, though I have never 

 met with an instance. They like their meat not only high, but in an 

 advanced state of putrefaction, and rather prefer that it should be killed for 



1 /;; HaunU of Wild Game, p. 398. 



