corrals of thorns about their camps to 

 keep the Lions away, and should one be 

 heard in the night they light fires and 

 wave torches until the dawn. 



Under ordinary circumstances the Lion 

 attends to his own hunting, and when 

 seen in the daytime retreats to some 

 denser cover where he will not be dis- 

 turbed. This is often cited as an evidence 

 of cowardice, but is such a common char- 

 acteristic of big game and of animals, 

 and even men of undoubted courage, that 

 it should not be held against him. There 

 is no animal in the world which can con- 

 sistantly hunt for trouble and survive, 

 and so long as the Lion can keep his 

 stomach filled and his sleep undisturbed 

 he is probably content to waive the title 

 of king of beasts. 



Lion hunting has been held a royal 

 sport in all times, with the result that 

 the Lion has been exterminated in many 

 parts of its natural habitat and forced 

 back into the wilder parts of desert and 

 plain. Unlike the tiger, the Lion is rare- 

 ly found in forests, and is unable to climb 

 trees. He is ordinarily stalked in the day- 

 time, when, with stomach full, he sleeps 

 among rocks and bushes, or shot from 

 stands as he approaches some water hole 

 or carcass by night. The literature of 

 African exploration and travel abounds 

 with accounts of Lions killed by men and 

 men killed by Lions. In these days of 

 zinc balls and repeating rifles it is gen- 

 erally the Lion that is killed/ To the 

 thorough-paced English sportsman like 

 Sir Samuel Baker or Gordon Cumming 

 the Lion hunt is recreation merely, and 

 with their ten-bore rifles and British 

 phlegm they are in no more danger than 

 if they were chasing foxes through the 

 dales of England. 



The family life of the Lion is very in- 

 teresting and human. So far as is known, 

 a single male and female remain together 

 year after year, irrespective of the pair- 

 ing season, the Lion feeding and caring 



for his Lioness and cubs and educating the 

 young in the duties of life. For two or 

 three years the cubs follow their parents, 

 so that Lions are often found in -small 

 troops. Cases have been reported where 

 they have joined for a preconcerted hunt, 

 and the Lioness often goes up the wind to 

 startle game and drive it towards her am- 

 bushed mate, following after for a share 

 of the prey. Hon. W. H. Drummond, in 

 "The Large Game and Natural History 

 of South and Southeast Africa," gives the 

 following account of the feast after the 

 victim had been slain : "The Lion had 

 by this time quite killed the beautiful 

 animal, but instead of proceeding to eat 

 it, he got up and roared vigorously until 

 there was an answer, and in a few min- 

 utes a Lioness, accompanied by four 

 whelps, came trotting up from the same 

 direction as the zebra, which no doubt 

 she had been to drive towards her hus- 

 band. They formed a fine picture as they 

 all stood round the carcass, the whelps 

 tearing it and biting it, but unable to get 

 through the tough skin. Then the Lion 

 lay down, and the Lioness, driving her 

 offspring before her, did the same, four 

 or five yards off, upon which he got up 

 and, commencing to eat, had soon fin- 

 ished a hind leg, retiring a few yards on 

 one side as soon as he had done so. The 

 Lioness came up next and tore the car- 

 cass to shreds, bolting huge mouthfuls, 

 but not objecting to the whelps eating as 

 much as they could find. There was a 

 good deal of snarling and quarreling 

 among these young Lions, and occasional- 

 ly a standup fight for a minute, but their 

 mother did not take any notice of them 

 except to give them a smart blow with 

 her paw if they got in her way. There 

 was now little left of the zebra but a 

 few bones, and the whole Lion family 

 walked quietly away, the Lioness leading, 

 and the Lion often turning his head to see 

 that they were not followed, bringing up 

 the rear." Dane Coolidge. 



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