76 HABITS OP THE LION. 



lot them lie loose by the wagons; while on a dark, rainy 

 night, if a lion is in the neighborhood, he is almost sure to 

 venture to kill an ox. His approach is always stealthy, 

 except when wounded; and any appearance of a trap is 

 enough to cause him to refrain from making the last spring. 

 This seems characteristic of the feline species : when a 

 goat is picketed in India for the purpose of enabling the 

 huntsmen to shoot a tiger hy night, if on a plain,- he would 

 whip off the animal so quickly by a stroke of the paw that 

 no one could take aim; to obviate this, a small pit is dug, 

 and the goat is picketed to a stake in the bottom; a small 

 stone is tied in the ear of the goat, which makes him cry 

 the whole night. When the tiger sees the appearance of 

 a trap, he walks round and round the pit, and allows the 

 hunter, who is lying in wait, to have a fair shot. 



When a lion is very hungry, and lying in wait, the sight 

 of an animal may make him commence stalking it. In one 

 case a man, while stealthily crawling toward a rhinoceros, 

 happened to glance behind him, and found to his horror a 

 lion stalking him; he only escaped by springing up a tree 

 like a cat. At Lopepe a lioness sprang on the after-quarter 

 of Mr. Oswell's horse, and when we came up to him we 

 found the marks of the claws on the horse, and a scratch 

 on Mr. O.'s hand. The horse, on feeling the lion on him, 

 sprang away, and the rider, caught by a wait-a-bit thorn, 

 was brought to the ground and rendered insensible. His 

 dogs saved him. Another English gentleman (Captain 

 Codrington) was surprised in the same way, though not 

 hunting the lion at the time, but turning round he shot him 

 dead in tne neck. By accident a horse belonging to Cod- 

 rington ran away, but was stopped by the bridle catching 

 a stump ; there he remained a prisoner two days, and when 

 found the whole space around was marked by the footprints 

 of lions. They had evidently been afraid to attack the 

 haltered horse, from fear that it was a trap. Two lions 

 came up by night to within three yards of oxen tied to a 

 wagon, and a sheep tied to a tree, and stood roaring, but 



