344 MAMMALIA. 



known, at the Cape of Good Hope, to cany off a Heifer as a 

 Cat would a Mouse, and, with the burden, leap a wide ditch. 

 It is almost impossible to conceive the muscular, force necessary 

 to jump a fence several feet high when carrying a load of several 

 hundredweight. 



The audacity of the Lion increases in proportion to his 

 requirement. ^VTien he has exhausted all means of procuring 

 subsistence, and when he can no longer put off the cravings 

 of himger, he sets no limit to his aggressions, and will brave 

 every clanger rather than perish by famine. In open day he 

 will then proceed to where herds of oxen and sheep pasture, 

 entirely disregarding shepherds and Dogs. At such times he 

 has been known to carry his rashness so far as to attack a 

 drove of Buffaloes — an action which is all the bolder as a single 

 one, unless it is taken by surprise, is well able to defend itself. 



"I have it on good authority," says Sparrmann, "that a Lion 

 was thrown down, wounded, and trampled under foot so seriously 

 as to cause death by a herd of cattle he had ventured to attack in 

 open day." 



Livingstone, too, the celebrated English traveller, was witness to 

 a herd of Buffaloes defending themselves against several Lions. ' 

 The bulls stood in front, the females and young ones keeping 

 behind them. 



^Vlien nearly famished, the Lion will make shift with carrion, 

 although it may be in a very decomposed state ; moreover, he is 

 in the habit of returning the next day to consume the remains 

 of his yesterday's feast — a thing which is not done by others 

 of the Feline tribe. 



One feature, which seems jieculiar to the nature of South 

 African Lions, is, that they will combine to hunt those animals 

 which, singly they are unable to encounter with certainty of 

 success. Delegorgue relates that, in wrater, twenty or thirty 

 Lions have been seen to assemble during the day-time, and 

 drive their game into narrow passes, in which some of their 

 confreres were posted. These are, he says, regular baffues, 

 conducted in due order, but without noise ; for the smell of 

 the Lion is quite suiEcient to di-ive before it the herbivorous 

 animals. The Rhinoceros is sometimes destroyed in this way by 

 associations of Lioas. 



