THE LION. 21 



could eatj but nothing less than a demonstration would have 

 convinced me that it was possible for him to have eaten, the flesh 

 of a good-sized heifer, and many of the bones besides, for scarcely 

 a rib was left, and some of the marrow-bones were broken as with 

 a hammer." 



Unlike the habit of the hyaena, wolf, and other animals, the lion 

 does not bring home meat for his young cubs, but as soon as 

 they attain any strength at all, he takes them out with him on his 

 nocturnal prowls. 



In size the average lion is between nine and ten feet in extreme 

 length, including the tail, which is generally about three feet 

 long, stands about three and a half to four feet high, has a foot 

 over six inches in diameter, and weighs between thirty-five and 

 forty stone. There are much larger animals existing than can be 

 generally seen in menageries, and hunters give measurements 

 considerablv beyond the above. 



The lion's roar as given when he is in captivity is said to be but 

 a feeble echo of the awe-inspiring sound he utters in his freedom. 

 This, of course, can only be heard in its perfection when in 

 its natural place ; when, after prowling about in his favourite 

 haunts, the sandy plains or rocky places, or when crouching in 

 the rank grass skirting the edge of some spring that forms the 

 drinking-place of those herbivorous animals on which he delights 

 to make his meal, he is disappointed, and his patience becoming 

 exhausted, he is then said to resort to another stratagem; for 

 placing his mouth close to the earth he utters a roar that, 

 rolhng along the ground on all sides, startles every animal that 

 may be crouching in the neighbourhood. Bounding to their feet, 

 these terrified creatures rush forth from their lairs, and if one 

 of them happens to be near, the spring is made, the death-struggle 

 short, and the lion's appetite soon satisfied. This nocturnal 

 roaring is said to be a great nuisance to travellers in some dis- 

 tricts, for the oxen or horses, that do not appear to be afraid of a 

 lion in the daytime, are terribly frightened at his voice at night, 

 and rush frantically about in a complete state of fright and panic. 

 " Several times during my three years' wanderings," Mr. 

 Selous writes, " in the far interior of Southern Africa, have I, 



