Photo by Fratelli Alinari] 
, c [Florence 
AFRICAN LION 
This lion is almost in the atritude of those sculptured by Sir Edwin Landseer for the Nelson Monument, but the feet are turned in, not lying flat 
CHAPTER II 
THE CAT TRIBE 
HOUGH only one species is entirely domesticated, and none of the Cats have flesh edible 
by man, except perhaps the puma, no group of animals has attracted more interest than 
this. Containing more than forty species, ranging in size from the ox-devouring tiger or 
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck, Hamburg 
AN UNWILLING PUPIL 
This is one of Herr Hagenbeck’s famous perform- 
ing tigers 
lion to the small wild cats, they are so alike in habit and struc- 
ture that no one could possibly mistake the type or go far 
wrong in guessing at the habits of any one of them. They are 
all flesh-eaters and destroyers of living animals. All have 
rounded heads, and an extraordinary equipment of teeth and of 
claws, and of muscles to use them. The blow of the forearm 
of a lion or tiger is inconceivably powerful, in proportion to its 
size. A stroke from a tiger’s paw has been known to strike 
off a native’s arm from the shoulder and ieave it hanging by a 
piece of skin, and a similar blow from a lion to crush the 
skull of an ox. The true cats are known by the power to 
draw back, or “retract,” their claws into sheaths of horn, 
rendering their footsteps noiseless, and keeping these weapons 
always sharp. The hunting-leopard has only a partial capacity 
for doing this. 
The characteristics of the Cats and their allies are too well 
known to need description. We will therefore only mention 
the chief types of the group, and proceed to give, in the fullest 
detail which space allows, authentic anecdotes of their life and 
habits. The tribe includes Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Pumas, 
Jaguars, a large number of so-called Tiger-cats (spotted and 
striped), Wild Cats, Domestic Cats, and Lynxes. The 
Hunting-leopard, or Cheeta, stands in a sub-group by itself, 
as does the Fossa, the only large carnivore of Madagascar, 
33 
