58 WILD BEASTS OF THE WOELD 



all essential details of structure, however, the King of Beasts agrees with 

 this familiar creature, as he does also in most of his habits and attitudes. 

 In connection with this, it may be mentioned that while the Lion often, 

 like the Cat, tucks in his fore-paws when lying down, he often also 

 extends them in front like a Dog, and thus any adverse criticism of 

 sculptured lions represented in this, undoubtedly the most majestic, 

 position, is quite misplaced. The Lion differs from most Cats in not 

 climbing trees, though it is possible that young and light individuals 

 might not find this feat impracticable. 



Although characteristically an African animal, the Lion also ranges 

 through Western Asia into North-west India, where a few specimens 

 linger in the Gir Forest in Kattywar. The idea that the Indian Lion 

 is maneless is, by the way, quite an erroneous one. The range of the 

 Lion has been contracting during all the time which the animal has 

 been under human observation — and few wild creatures can have 

 been observed more thoroughly. In Herodotus' time, between 400 

 and 500 B.C., Lions inhabited Europe, being found in Thrace, but by 

 the beginning of the Christian era they had disappeared. There is 

 evidence that they once ranged into Central India, and in Africa, their 

 main home, they have now become much reduced in numbers both in 

 the north and south of the continent. 



They are naturally absent from the damp dark forests of the 

 equatorial region, for the Lion is generally an animal of open dry 

 country, although he likes cover, such as reeds, bushes, or long grass. 

 Like most Cats, he is nocturnal, and is bold and dangerous by night, 

 though little to be feared by day. He captures his prey by surprise, 

 and, seizing it with his powerful claws, kills it by a bite or two on the 

 neck or head. Sometimes the death-stroke may, indeed, be dealt with the 

 paw, as there is a case on record of a man having been killed inside a tent 

 by a lion which thrust in its fore-leg for the purpose, and then noiselessly 

 hooked out his victim. Human beings, however, are not the normal 

 prey of the Lion, which generally feeds on large wild animals, such as 

 the larger Antelopes and Zebras, or on domestic cattle. When the 

 animal does take to man-eating, he is a terrible scourge, and is apparently 



