THE LION 59 



worse than the Tiger, displaying greater boldness. The case of the two 

 man-eaters of Tsavo, in East Africa, who devoured more than a score 

 of human beings before being themselves accounted for, is fresh in the 

 memory, and has been the subject of a most interesting work. 



It is therefore obvious that the terrors of the Lion have not been 

 exaggerated by early writers, but that where he has come into contact 

 with well-armed and resolute natives or with Europeans, his courage 

 has naturally suffered by the elimination of the fiercer individuals, a 

 result certain to occur with all such dangerous animals. 



The Lion, in spite of the ancient ideas about his magnanimity, is 

 quite willing to sink his dignity and eat dead and even putrid meat, 

 if he finds a convenient carcase ; the Zebra is said to be his favourite 

 food. His own kill he often conceals, and watches it to keep off 

 carrion-animals. In feeding, he begins by disembowelling the prey 

 and burying its entrails ; he then eats the internal organs and the 

 flesh from the hind-quarters. He hunts for his Lioness, to whom he 

 is much attached, when they have a family, and indeed is a remark- 

 ably sociable animal, unlike most wild animals of this family ; troops 

 of as many as a dozen or even a score of Lions have been seen. 

 When these roar in concert, the effect is indescribably grand, if rather 

 terrifying ; and when an animal is attacked by several Lions at once,, 

 its end is very painful, as all fall upon it without system, and mangle 

 it terribly. 



The male animals naturally often fight for a mate, and in such a. 

 case the Lioness, as appears usually to happen with her sex among- 

 animals, calmly awaits the victory of the strongest. She has usually 

 two or three cubs at a birth, and goes with young only four months- 

 Many cubs appear to die during the period of teething, the males 

 especially. Otherwise there are few causes for Lion mortality; some, 

 however, must perish from conflicts with each other, and others meet 

 death on the horns of some of their more formidable prey, such as 

 the Oryx Antelopes, while they are said to fear the Spotted Hunting- 

 dog (Lycaon pictus) so much that an imitation of its cry will keep- 

 them at a distance. Old Lions have been found living on Mice and 



