30 WILD ANIMALS. 



opportunity, bounded througli the opening, and sprang at the 

 throat of the leopard, who tried to escape by springing high up 

 on the bars. The Hon, attempting to follow his mate, let the 

 chain go, and the door fell back in its place, shutting him off and 

 preventing his taking part in the combat, which had now began 

 in earnest, and raged for nearly twenty minutes. At the ex- 

 piration of that time the leopard was thrown upon its back, and 

 in a second the sharp fangs of the lioness were deep in the 

 beautiful creature's throat, which died without a further effort, and 

 in half an hour nothing remained of her but a few torn and 

 mangled shreds. 



Lions in confinement show not only regard but affection for 

 their keepers, and some remarkable instances of this are narrated 

 in several books of anecdotes on animal sagacity which are well 

 known, no doubt, to the majority of people. That he is capable of 

 instruction, and can be brought to perform divers tricks, and even 

 rendered so docile as to hold his mouth wide open while a man 

 thrusts his head therein, is demonstrated by the exhibitions fre- 

 quently seen at the performances of those so-called lion-tamers ; but 

 the number of accidents that have occurred should deter people 

 from encouraging such foolhardy exploits. Mr. Fairgrieve, the pro- 

 prietor of "Wombwell's menagerie, wrote a letter to t]ieGlohe,m 1872, 

 upon the subject of lion-taming — which was then attracting some 

 attention, through the fact that Macate, the lion-tamer in Maunder's 

 menagerie, had just been killed — in which he endeavoured to show 

 that under certain conditions, and with careful management, there 

 was no more danger in such exhibitions than in any other public 

 entertainments of the day, and went on to say that only three or four 

 deaths had occurred within his knowledge. There are, however, 

 a great many more recorded where the tame or performing lions 

 have killed their keepers or grooms. Many deaths are no doubt the 

 result of carelessness or over-confidence in their tameness, for 

 when too late it is found that the savageness of these wild beasts 

 is not entirely subdued but is only dormant, and despite their 

 apparent docility and obedience, it can be aroused by a trifling 

 cause. They are, in consequence, never safe. In Astley's Theatre, 

 one of the " lion-tamer " Crockett's lions broke loose and killed 



