THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
The elephant, rhinoceros, and hippo are ordinarily safe from 
attack, more probably because of the difficulty and danger of 
overcoming them rather than from any sense of fear. 
Porter ”° quotes a narrative of a remarkable struggle 
with an Indian lion some fifty years ago, by two British sports- 
men mounted on elephants, and aided by an army of beaters. 
The arrangements, in short, were the same as for a tiger hunt, 
and the lion carried out his part of the programme perfectly, 
charging again and again though badly wounded, repeatedly 
leaping upon the elephants and tearing them until they became 
nearly uncontrollable, killing a beater or two and endangering 
everybody, and making a splendid display of courage and 
endurance against fearful odds until the last. Here the fear 
was on the part of the elephants, which the lion attacked (as 
though his real enemies) without an instant’s hesitation. 
An African buffalo is more nearly a true match for a lion, as 
many a pair of skeletons mingled in the grass has attested — 
none more remarkably than in one case described by Cameron “* 
near Lake Tanganyika : — 
Courage. 
“During my rambles,” he notes, ‘‘I noticed the remains of a lion, buffalo 
and crocodile, lying together in a heap, and was told that when the 
buffalo came to drink the lion sprang upon him, and, both rolling into the 
water together, they were seized by a crocodile. He in his turn was dragged 
about twenty yards from the bank by the struggles of the two beasts, and 
then the trio perished in inextricable entanglement.” 
A single lion, indeed, will rarely attack a buffalo; and two 
or three together are sometimes beaten off. Nevertheless this 
great animal is so constantly assailed, that on every occasion 
when Drummond “™ saw lions hunting by daylight they were 
in pursuit of this game. This judicious observer considered 
the zebra the lion’s favorite food, on account of the succulent 
fat in its body; but these wild horses are extremely cautious. 
Another reason for the preference is their small ability to defend 
themselves when caught, whereas several of the large antelopes 
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