44 A HAND-BOOK OF THE MANAGEMENT OF ANIMALS 



in front, so that to ensure radical cure the animal had to be kept shut 

 up in the inner den while the treatment was continued. 



A LIONESS KILLED BY A TIGER. 



On the arrival of a pair of adult lions at the garden they 

 were placed together ; as they began to fight it was considered 

 dangerous to leave them in the same den. They were, therefore, 

 temporarily kept apart, the lioness being accommodated in the 

 front portion of the next lateral compartment of the building, in 

 the back portion of which a tiger was securely confined; the latter 

 showed no tendency to be excited. All being satisfactorily arranged 

 the jemadar was allowed to absent himself for a short time, leaving 

 two garden keepers in charge with strict injunctions that no change 

 should be made during his absence. Shortly afterwards a great 

 noise was heard in the direction of the carnivora house, and it 

 was found that the grating door between the two compartments in 

 which the lioness and the tiger had been separated was raised, so 

 that they had come together. The lioness was seen to be dying from 

 injuries inflicted by the tiger ; one of the keepers had fled and has 

 never reappeared. A visitor who was present at the time said that the 

 keeper who was missing had volunteered to raise the grating and allow 

 the animals to meet in order to settle a dispute between the keepers 

 regarding the age and strength of the lioness. 



Observations on the habits of Lions. 

 Young lions have sometimes been found to be very tame. A male 

 obtained from Mesopotamia in January 1878 was so good tempered 

 that it allowed itself to be led about the garden with a collar 

 and chain; during the day it remained tied up to a pole under the 

 shade of a tree, and at night slept in a room adjoining that of its 

 keeper. As, however, the beast was fast growing, it was thought undesir- 

 able to keep it outside, and it was therefore placed in one of the dens of 

 the Burdwan House (see pages 40-41). It remained comparatively tame 

 until it left the garden in 1887. It appeared to recognize persons, and 

 evinced pleasure at being caressed and stroked through the bars. The 

 animal had become much attached to a particular keeper, whose voice 

 and presence it recognized some four or five years after be had left the 

 service. A young lioness received from the same place was also very 

 tame, and continued so till the end of her short life in this garden. 

 The behaviour of even the tamest lion seems to change, for the moment, 

 at the sight of cattle or a horse. It becomes inordinately excited, 

 walks with nimble steps, follows the direction taken by the cattle or horse, 

 stopping as they stop and moving as they move, rattling the rods of 

 the grating in its quick and excited movement; now crouching down 

 and again springing up as if ready to pounce upon something, the eyes 

 glaring all the while and fixed steadfastly on the object of its attention. 

 At the approach of feeding time lions generally become excited, and 

 their excitement and impatience reach a climax when the bucket 

 containing the food is placed near the den preparatory to distribution ; 

 they may be seen clawing at the bars, and in their excitement 

 leaping sideways over one another. Live food, as already mentioned, 



