LIFE AT STELLINGEN 235 
tree about ten feet above the ground. I then let loose in turn 
lions, tigers, and panthers into the enclosure where the tree was 
growing, and, as soon as they spied the pigeon, they exerted 
themselves to the utmost to bring it to the ground. They 
were, however, unable to do so. The lions and tigers could 
only jump about six feet six inches. The panthers were more 
athletic and could just reach the branch, but even they were 
unable to bring down the pigeon, for the latter was fixed to 
the highest point. 
The long jump I used to test in a similar manner, using 
for the most part animals which had already received some 
training and were therefore more adept than ordinary un- 
practised carnivores. The panthers could just cover ten feet 
without a run; but, if they had been able to take a run, I 
feel sure that they could have increased it to thirteen or 
fourteen feet. Tigers I found could also just cover ten feet 
from a standstill, but I doubt not that they also could have 
put on several feet if they had been allowed a run. 
On the strength of these experiments I considered it safe 
to surround the carnivore gorge at Stellingen with a trench 
twenty-eight feet wide. Although they could easily take a 
ten-yard run at it, it is certain that, if they endeavoured to 
leap so wide a chasm, they would inevitably fall into the 
depths of the abyss. I had, however, to devise an arrange- 
ment to safeguard the animals from falling into the trench 
inadvertently while playing about. For this purpose I caused 
to be constructed a ledge some five feet wide, running round 
the trench on the inner side a little distance below the top. 
It is true that this somewhat diminished the distance from the 
outer side of the trench; but it has to be remembered that an 
animal taking off from this ledge would not have the advan- 
tage of a run, and would therefore find in it no facility for 
getting out. When thus confined by a trench, the animals 
are indeed much more securely locked up than if they were 
kept behind bars. For bars may be, and often have been, 
broken through, but it is a physical impossibility that the 
