328 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. IS, 1890, 



THE LION OF FANCY AND OF FACT. 



IConlinued from Page SOS. 1 



WE- come now to the subject of the lion's courage, 

 which it appears to be the fashion at present to 

 impugn. One feels a certain hesitancy in championing 

 "the sultan of the desert" against the charge of coward- 

 ice, considering the way in which it is usually preferred. 

 In treating of the same'quality as exhibited by the tiger, 

 an attempt was made to show that although this terrible 

 brute had no moral courage, the consciousness of his 

 prowess made him extremely dangerous whenever ex- 

 perience had not cowed him by organizing in his brain 

 the. conviction of impotency. Thus far it is the same 

 with the lion, but the character of these groups of the 

 Felida? is not identical, and if the question be one of 

 evidence, judgment must be given against those who call 

 the liou a poltroon. Moffatt and Delgorgue are, perhaps, 

 the most prominent authorities who accuse the lion of 

 cowardice, but the experiences which they record as 

 justifying this conclusion are susceptible of a different 

 interpretation from that given. Of course some lions 

 are brave, others timid; some, as Drummond says, "will 

 make a point of attacking every human being they 

 meet," while others will never fight, even under provo- 

 cation, if they can run away. This, however, is about 

 the substance of what Delgorgue and Moffatt bring for- 

 ward to show how dastardly is the lion. Dr. Livingstone, 

 who was very little of a sportsman, says the lion has very 

 much the appearance of an overgrowu dog, and thinks 

 meanly of his courage. At the same time he has describpd 

 ("Travels and Researches in Southern Africa") a situation 

 in which none of his household "dared to venture out of 

 doors after dark" on account of lions. Meunier also em- 

 phasizes an amount of caution upon the part of this beast 

 that might give the impression that the lion was "the 

 most pusillanimous of animals." Burchell ("Travels into 

 the Interior of Southern Africa") spent four years in that 

 country, always avoiding (according to his own account) 

 any rencontre with lions, and never coming into contact 

 with one but once. This animal was shot through the 

 body, and because he did not tear Burchell and his 

 party and his dogs to pieces, he has "no very high opinion 

 of the lion's courage." Naturally, this sounds like an ex 

 aggeration, but if any one will be at the pains of reading 

 the two quartos referred to, it will be seen that it is no 

 more than a simple statement of fact. 



If anything more than a sketch of the subject was in- 

 tended it might be worth while to show that most of 

 these detractors from the lion's bravery are as inconsist- 

 ent in their statements as Gordon Gumming, who in de- 

 scribing the deliberate and unprovoked assault of a lion 

 upon an armed camp, speaks of his "desperate attack," 

 and calls him a "cowardly brute" in the same paragraph. 

 Certain naturalists, moreover, among whom Dr. Jerdon 

 ("The Mammals of India") is prominent, writes with much 

 assurance of the timidity of "the king of beasts." This 

 author, by whom the obvious relations of structure seem 

 to have been completely disregarded in this instance, 

 had evidently not hunted the lion iu Gojerat with Capt. 

 Delamaine or he would have discovered reasons for mod- 

 ifying his views. Preposteroua as such a proceeding is, 

 lions have been commonly compared with men — not with 

 savages, in whom many of the traits of the wild beast 

 are faintly reflected, but with civilized human beings, 

 evolved beyond the possibility of such a comparison. It 

 is safe to assume that any adult animal of this class who 

 is in good health, is conscious of his own prowess, and 

 that, like any other creature with a mind, he is ready to 

 encounter dangers he has been accustomed to meet and 

 overcome, when the motives for doing so are sufficiently 

 powerful. On the other hand, he is cautious under un- 

 usual circumstances, and alarmed when these are entirely 

 strange, as the average man would be also. Finally, 

 when peril threatens, which experience — his own, or 

 that which he has inherited in the form of instinct — 

 teaches him, is not to be successfully braved, hardihood 

 gives place to what the writers referred to call cowardice, 

 and unless his intelligence has been temporarily sub- 

 verted by hunger or rage ne will retreat. Let us, how- 

 ever, see how the evidence itself stands for the lion's 

 courage. 



"The natives of India," observes Col. Julius Barras 

 ("India and Tiger Hunting"), "except under European 

 leadership, will not go out against dangerous animals. 

 The result is the tigers get the better of the natives and 

 kill so many of them and their cattle that I have seen 

 many ruined villages, abandoned owing to the neighbor- 

 hood of these animals." Selous ("A Hunter's Life in 

 Africa") says, "it is far otherwise" for the most part in 

 that country, where "man-eating lions are not common," 

 because," when a lion becomes dangerous and destructive,*' 

 even the least martial tribes assemble, and generally with 

 loss to themselves, surround and destroy him. The dif- 

 ferent conditions under which the larger Felicias are thus 

 placed by the difference in boldness and enterprise of the 

 populations in their respective habitats, justifies the very 

 sensible remark of the writer upon the lion in the Ency- 

 clopedia Britannica, to the effect "that lions, like other 

 animals, undoubtedly show considerable individual dif- 

 ferences in character, and behave differently under vary- 

 ing circumstances," 



Despite their reprisals, however, Selous informs us that 

 "many natives are killed every year in those parts of the 

 country where lions are plentif ul," and further, where 

 these beasts abound, and where broken tribes, poorly 

 armed, and with but little cohesion alone oppose them, 

 the brute dominates the man, and the latter directs his 

 intelligence toward devising means of escape. For ex- 

 ample, the Makubas, living on the Ghobe, place stockades 

 of special construction around their viJlages to protect 

 them against lions; and the Bakorus— "miserable Bako- 

 rus," Anderson calls them— inhabit platform houses in 

 trees to the same end. Finally, it is impossible to mistake 

 the tenor of Gerard's account of the lion of North Africa 

 There he is master, and unhesitatingly attacks an Arab 

 douar, even while its inmates are alarmed and prepared 

 to receive him, 



Taking the testimony of the African hunters gener- 

 ally, it wih be found that the idea of the lion's cowardice 

 and of his innate fear of man is scarcely justified. 



"When lions are met with in the daytime"— when, as 

 Gerard thinks, they are under as great a disadvantage as 



a man is at night, since, among other things, their sight 

 is confused by the glare, which is also the case with the 

 tiger, according to Sanderson— they are, as a rule, fully 

 fed, and therefore, Anderson states, comparatively 

 harmless. Under such circumstances, continues Se- 

 lous, "they almost invariably retreat before the presence 

 of man," in the deliberate way so graphically described 

 by Leveson and Drummond. "But if pressed they 

 usually charge and, ceteris par ibus, I have found * :f * 

 that a far larger proportion of them do charge than of 

 any other animal in South Africa. * * * As with 

 man, and all other animals, individuals differ so much in 

 disposition, one from another, that it is impossible to tell 

 from an experience of one what the next is likely to do, 

 and I do not consider that any man has a right to say 

 that lions are cowardly because the two or three he has 

 shot have not happened to show fight. * * * As to 

 the character of the lion, I myself consider him to be a 

 far more dangerous animal to meddle with than any 

 other in South Africa." Not to Gerard alone are we in- 

 debted for a knowledge of the awe which experience has 

 taught the Ouled, Meloul or 0 tiled Cessi Arabs to feel to- 

 ward the lion; and, upon the whole, the evidence cor- 

 roborative of his courage and daring overbalances that 

 on which his cowaxdice rests. Moffatt himself, with his 

 whole train, was stopped during daylight on the road by 

 a lion whom he did not venture to fire at, while the 

 stories told by Freeman, Green, Alexander and Galton 

 speak for themselves. J. H. P. 



HALF-HOURS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA, 



VI.— LEAVES FROM AS" ANGLER'S NOTE BOOK. 



SOME years ago a dam was thrown across the outlet of 

 Echo .Lake for storage purposes. A tunnel some one- 

 half mile long was run through the mountain and the 

 water taken into the headwaters of the American River, 

 and thence into a large mining ditch. When the natural 

 water of the river got too scanty during the dry season, 

 for a full head of water to supply the ditch, then Echo 

 was tapped to maintain the supply. The dam being 10 or 

 13ft. high, it backed the waters of the lower lake into 

 those of the upper, and so formed a vast reservoir, several 

 square miles in extent. Consequently, spots that afford 

 the best fishing during high water, are not good after the 

 lakes are lowered to their natural level. The dam is 

 irregular in shape, following the formation of the shore 

 at the outlet. It is composed of rough granite rubble, and 

 during high water is haunted by thousands of minnows. 

 In a retreating angle of this wall, where the rocks com- 

 posing it were large and irregular, an interesting sight 

 was observed last summer. Five large trout, running 

 from 21 to 41bs. in weight, had a school of minnows cor- 

 ralled, and could be seen at all hours of the day herding 

 them as dogs would herd a fleck of sheep. There must 

 have been several hundred of the small fry, and the trout 

 kept swimming back and forth between them and the 

 deeper waters of the lake. The little fellows kept in a 

 solid bunch, and when one of them would stray away, it 

 was promptly driven back to the main body by the seem- 

 ingly untiring sentinels. 



They were seen, time and again, by all the members of 

 our party and by some visitors, and every one expressed 

 themselves.as having never seen the like before. The 

 trout did not seem at all timid in the presence of man. 

 and when the minnows would try to dash away from the 

 bank when any one approached, they were headed off in 

 all directions, and speedily driven back. None of our 

 party ever observed a trout capture a minnow, but 

 doubtless they did so, when not embarrassed by our 

 presence^ It was a subject of considerable speculation 

 to us, to know how they contrived to keep their prev 

 together, night and day, but they did so. And through- 

 out a space of ten days they were constantly to be ob- 

 served, when the water was not disturbed by waves and 

 our vision so obscured. Perhaps they were "spelled" 

 nights by change of sentinels. We thought when first 

 they were noticed, that they were guarding their fry, 

 but this proved not to be the case, as the small fish were 

 undoubtedly minnows and well grown at that, some of 

 them being oin. long. I think that the same trout were 

 always on guard during the time they were noticed, as 

 there were always five— no more, no less— and apparently 

 the same size. No attempts were made to capture them, 

 as we were curious to see how long they could maintain 

 control of the situation. I would like to hear from my 

 brother anglers whether a similar instance ever came 

 under their notice. 



On these lakes, especially the upper one, a phenomenon 

 is often observable, that I have rarely seen elsewhere. 

 On a perfectly calm day, when not a ripple disturbs the 

 water, a peculiar wave can be often seen traveling at a 

 high rate of speed, and generally in a straight direction. 

 It looks as though a huge fish, or some sub-aqueous 

 animal, were swimming just underneath the surface 

 and causing- a bulge in the water above. Now, I would 

 like to ask the editor of Forest and Stream if it is a 

 flaw of wind that causes this? And if so, how can it 

 travel so fast upon an otherwise calm day, and cause 

 such a bulge upon the water? It seems at times as though 

 the wave was 3 or 4in. high. I have seen the same thing 

 on other bodies of water, but never so frequently as here. 



One day as I was "projeckin" around upon the moun- 

 tain side watching a family of Clarke's crows, I sat down 

 under a large Douglass pine, with my back against the 

 trunk. The birds consisted of the parents and four noisy, 

 clamorous young ones. This is one of the noisiest birds 

 m the world, I believe, and its habitat being restricted to 

 the highest timbered mountains, where few persons go, 

 it is seldom observed in this state, at least in this part of 

 it. I watched with interest the arduous labors of the 

 old birds, opening pine cones and extracting the seeds to 

 fill the greedy, noisy mouths of their offspring. As I sat 

 thus, my attention was drawn to a mimic warfare among 

 the pine needles at my feet. A caterpillar had lost his 

 grip where he had been feeding, and had fallen among 

 the needles— and also among enemies. As soon as he fell 

 he was pounced upon by two lusty red ants. One got 

 him securely by the tail and the other got a catch-as- 

 catch-can hold on his bodv, Mr. Caterpillar began a 

 series of vigorous writhings. which soon dislodged the 

 ant with the body hold: but the one at the tail was evi- 

 dently a trained athlete, for he never lost his hold, but 

 only fastened himself the most firmly. The dislodged 

 ant skirmished around the combatants, watching for an- 

 other chance, until the caterpillar ceased struggling, 

 when he immediately fastened on again. Again was he 



shaken off; and this performance was repeated time after 

 time. The fellow with the "'tail-holt" never let go, but 

 held on like grim death all through the battle. My sym- 

 pathy was entirely with the plucky ant?. The caterpil lar 

 was about an inch and a quarter long, and of a dull 

 muddy green color. Had he been a handsome fellow, I 

 might have freed him from his foes. Such an uncon- 

 scious influence has beauty upon us all! The persistent 

 efforts of the two tiny warriors finally won the day, the 

 efforts of the caterpillar ceased, and he was ingloriously 

 dragged away: a captive Gulliver to his Lilliputian foes. 

 As I sat and gazed out upon the valleys and everlasting 

 mountains, I could not help thinking that this petty strife 

 was no more contemptible in my eyes, when contrasted 

 with the sublime surroundings, than the warfare of 

 mighty nations and armies is in the sight of nature's God, 

 when compared with the grand plan of the universe. 



Speaking of ants reminds me of an incident observed a 

 day or two afterward. B., myself and old "Hatchet" 

 had gone out to the road one morning to await the com- 

 ing of the stage. We had some trout to ship to our 

 friends below and had carried them out in time for the 

 down trip. We arrived half an hour ahead of time and 

 to pass the moments of waiting I began prowling around 

 among the surrounding timber, watching the antics of 

 some marmots, a colony of them occupying this locality. 

 Presently I noticed a peculiar black streak, about a foot 

 wide, crossing a patch of bare eand. I approached to as- 

 certain its nature and saw a curious sight. It was a 

 colony of large black ants migrating. 



The animated black streak extended both ways, as far 

 as the eye could follow it, among the shadows of the 

 wood. It was composed of thousands upon thousands of 

 the creatures, all traveling along in the same direction 

 and in as perfect order as a well-drilled army — which it 

 was. Along its sides, and keeping almost equi-distant 

 from the main column, marched officers or guards, whose 

 duty it seemed to be to keep all stragglers from wander- 

 ing from the ranks. Now and thenan extra large black 

 and shiny fellow could be seen in the midst of the march- 

 ing hosts, closely attended by a chosen few, who helped 

 him over obstructions and kept the others at a respectful 

 distance. About one-fourth of the number carried, either 

 ovee ox full grown young ants in their mouths. I called 

 my companions and we viewed with interest this hegira. 

 The arrival of the stage interrupted our observations, but 

 on its departure I returned, to trace the colony to its des- 

 tination. I then found that the rear-end of the column 

 had about reached the spot where I first noticed it, show- 

 ing that the colony must have been an immense on<\ I 

 walked rapidly alongside of the column for about 100yds. 

 and came to a large half-decayed pine, destitute of bark, 

 which was lying in a little £Ut. Into this pine, through 

 several entrances, the ants were swarming. There was 

 no haste or shoving, however, for as they ascended its 

 sides to the entrance, which appeared to be'all near the top 

 of the log, the stream of ants was divided and sub-divided 

 by stationary sentinels, who appeared to exercise full direc- 

 tion over the movements of the rank and file, and sent them 

 to the right or left, as desired. These commands seemed ■ 

 to be conveyed by a quick touch of the antennas and was 

 unquestioningly obeyed. I viewed with ever-increasing 

 delight the perfect order with which every detail was car- 

 ried out. There would sometimes occur a mishap, to tem- 

 porarily throw them into confusion, but under direction of 

 the officers this was soon remedied. Two such occurrences 

 I noticed. One was caused by an ant, heavily laden with 

 a full-grown young one, missing its footing on a bit of 

 rotten wood on the side of the log, and going tumbling- 

 over and over through his companions and falling to the 

 ground. This caused some disorder, which was quickly 

 quelled. The other was caused by an ant coming to one 

 of the entrances, with an extra large one in his mouth, 

 which he could by no effort crowd into the hole. He tried 

 it in every way, even backing in and trying to pull his 

 burden after, but without effecting his purpose. This 

 soon caused a crowding around the entrance, which 

 attracted the notice of one of the guards, who came up 

 and seized the overgrown youngster, in conjunction with 

 its weary bearer, and together they forced it in. The rest 

 then followed on, and order was restored. It seemed as 

 though a part of the colony must have come ahead of the 

 rest several days, and prepared the habitation for occu- 

 pancy, as in different parts of the log I could see the 

 "carpenters" still at work. It was wonderful to see the 

 system of division of labor among these. I could not 

 see the internal workings, but the system was no doubt as 

 perfect there, if not more so, than on the outside. At 

 regular intervals the head of an ant would appear from 

 one of the openings, carrying a mouthful of sawdust, 

 As soon as he got it fairly out of the hole it was taken 

 from his jaws by another ant upon the outside, who was 

 always in waiting for the purpose, and carried to the 

 slope of the log where it was dropped, and rolled to the 

 ground. . If it lodged and did not roll properly , the ant 

 would give it at extra shove which was sure to send it 

 safely away. In one spot, where there was a groove in 

 the surface of the log, there were two ants at work. One 

 carried the sawdust from the fellow inside to the slope of 

 the grove, down which he dropped it. A second ant 

 picked it up from the groove and carried it to the slope of 

 the log at a point where it invariabiy rolled to the ground. 

 It was comical to see them watch every particle thus 

 dropped, to see that it was properly disposed of before 

 returning for another load. Their actions were too much 

 like those of human beings under similar circumstances 

 to dream that they were not directed by intelligent rea- 

 soning. Call it instinct, gentlemen, as much as you like, 

 but no man can persuade me that the lower orders of life 

 do not reason— at least to a limited degree. Arefar. 

 Auburn, Oal. 



The Woodcock and the Worm.— Their mode of feed- 

 ing, as observed in an aviary in Spain, is thus described by 

 Daniel: "There was a fountain to keep the ground moist, 

 and fresh sod was brought to them, the richest in worms 

 that could be found. The woodcock stuck its beak into 

 the ground, but never higher than the nostrils, drew the 

 worms out singly, and, raising its bill in the air, it ex- 

 tended upon it the whole length of the worm, and in this 

 way swallowed it smoothly, without any action of the 

 jaws. The whole was performed in an instant, and the 

 bird never once missed its aim." — North American Birds, 



A Book About Indians.— The Forest and Stream will mall 

 fr 36 on applies tt m a descriptive circular of Mr, Grrinnell's book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Font-Tales," giving a table of eonteflts 

 a ad specimen illustrations from the volume.— Adv, 



