56 POPULAR OPFICIAI, GUIDE. 



inals, is conducted from the rear, by means of a track under- 

 neath the sleeping dens, and an elevatino; platform car. 



The communication between indoor and outdoor cages is 

 direct and continuous. 



Instead of upright iron bars, all the cage fronts are of 

 hard-steel wire netting, in rectangular pattern, attached to 

 wrought iron frames. This is considered by the Zoological 

 Societjr a great improvement upon the heavy bar-work 

 hitherto in universal use for cage fronts in lion houses. 



The space above the sleeping dens has been devel-ope-1 

 as a sunlit balcony, whereon the animals will be \ery con- 

 spicuous, even to large crowds of visitors. 



Jungle-green tiling, impervious to moisture and dirt, is 

 used as a back-ground for the animals. 



The Lion is an animal of perpetual interest, but like 

 every other noteworthy wild animal, its haunts are con- 

 stantly being claimed by civilization, and its members arc 

 rapidly decreasing. It is not a difficult matter to exter- 

 minate or drive out from a given territory any large and 

 conspicuous quadruped, and at the present rate of settle- 

 ment and industrial development in Africa, it may easily 

 come to pass that by the end of the present century, the 

 king of beasts will be without a home, outside of zoological 

 collections. 



Like everything great, the Lion has his share of critics 

 and detractors. A few writers have asserted that because he 

 does not stalk through his native forests with head proudly 

 erect, like a drum-ma.jor on parade, he is mean-spirited and 

 cowardly. But the beast of noble countenance believes in 

 the survival of the fittest, and both by inheritance and 

 observation he knows that a lion who needlessly exposes 

 himself in the field captures the smallest amount of game, 

 and attracts the greatest number of steel-tipped bullets. 



Although Lions vary greatly in their color, and in the 

 length of the mane, it is conceded by naturalists that only 

 one species exists. In the same district and under precisely 

 similar conditions are found short-maned and long-maned 

 individuals, and all shades of color from tawny yellow to 

 dark brown. The present geographic range of the species 

 is from Southern Rhodesia to Persia and northwestern 

 India, but in northern Egypt there is a large extent of 

 territory which is lionless. 



By reason of his heavy mane and massive countenance, 

 supported by the grandest roar that issues from throat of 

 beast, the Lion appears to be a larger animal than he really 



