196 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
dant grass near my cabin. The first snow came. 
Twenty-four hours later the mule was passing 
a boulder near my cabin when a lion leaped upon 
him and throttled him. Tracks and scattered 
hair showed that the struggle had been intense 
though brief. 
Not a track led to the boulder upon which 
the lion had lain in wait, and, as the snow had 
fallen twenty-four or more hours before the 
tragedy, he must have been there at least 
twenty-four hours, and he may have waited 
twice as long. 
Another time I frightened a lion from a cliff 
where he was waiting for a near-by flock of 
bighorn sheep to come within leaping distance. 
Though it was nearly forty-eight hours since 
snow had ceased falling, not a track led to the 
lion’s watching place or blind. 
The lion probably is the game hog of the 
wilds. Often I have read his red records in the 
snow. On one occasion he killed nine mountain 
sheep in one attack. He ate a few pounds of 
one of them and never returned to the kill. 
On another occasion he killed eleven domestic 
sheep in one night. Inside of twenty-four 
hours a lion killed a doe, a fawn, a porcupine, 
a grouse, and was making a try for a moun- 
tain sheep when I appeared on snowshoes. 
He seems to prefer colts or horses for food. 
