74 
HABIT8 OP THE LION. 
lot thorn lio loose by tho wagons ; while on a dark, rainy 
night, if a lion is in tho neighborhood, ho is almost sure to 
ronturo to kill an ox. His approach is always stealthy, 
excopt when wounded; and any appearance of a trap ii 
enough to causo him to refrain from making tho last spring. 
This cecms characteristic of tho feline specios : when a 
goat is picketed in India for tho purpose of enabling the 
huntsmen to shoot a tiger by night, if on a plain, ho would 
whip off tho animal so quickly by a stroke of the paw that 
no ono could take aim; to obviate this, a small pit is dug, 
and tho goat is pickoted to a stake in tho bottom ; a small 
stone is tied in the ear of tho goat, which makes him cry 
tho wholo night. When the tiger sees the appearance of 
a trap, ho walks round and round tho pit, and allows tho 
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 commonco stalking it. In ono 
caso a man, whilo stoalthily crawling toward a rhinoceros, 
happened to glanco behind him, nnd found to his horror a 
lion stalking him; ho only escaped by springing up a tree 
liko a cat. At Lopepo a lioness sprang on tho after-quarter 
of Mr. Oswoll’s horse, and when wo came up to him wo 
found tho marks of tho claws on tho horse, and a scratch 
on Mr. O.’s hand. Tho horse, on feeling tho lion on him, 
sprang away, and the rider, caught by a wait-a-bit thorn, 
was brought to tho 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 tho timo, but turning round ho shot him 
dead in tno nock. By accident a horse belonging to Cod- 
rington ran away, but was stopped by the bridle catching 
a stump ; there ho remained a prisonor two days, and when 
found tho wholo space around was marked by tho footprints 
of lions. They had evidently been afraid to attack tho 
haltered horse, from foar that it was a trap. Two lions 
camo up by night to within threo yards of oxen tied to a 
wagon, and a sheep tied to a treo, and stood roaring, but 
