THE LION’S COURTSHIP 
to her allegiance. At the mating season of the year the lioness 
is ready to flirt with every new male she sees—in truth does 
her best to attract attention. Should a wandering knight 
answer her roaring, and appear on the edge of the moonlit 
glade which serves as her boudoir, the lioness, purring a wanton 
welcome, creeps forward to meet him. But her mate, with 
burning eyes and lifted mane and lashing tail, bounds before 
her, and the air quakes with his indignant challenge. It may 
After an etching by van Muyden. 
LIONESS AND CUBS, 
be sufficient, and the abashed intruder slink away; but if he 
does not, the forest soon trembles with the shock of such a duel 
as it would tax the epic pen of a Homer to depict: and the 
lithely crouching lioness watches the struggle in tense excite- 
ment, ready to glory in her lord if he win, or to fawn upon the 
stranger should he become conqueror. 
To the frequency of such battles, in which young, weak or unfortunate 
males must often be killed, is supposed to be due the fact that in Africa, at 
least, females far outnumber the males. This is nature’s merciless method 
III 
