344 
MAMMALIA. 
known, at the Cape of Good Hope, to carry off a Heifer as a 
Cat would a Mouse, and, with the burden, leap a wide ditch. 
It is almost impossible to conceive the muscular force necessary 
to jump a fence several feet high when carrying a load of several 
hundredweight. 
The audacity of the Lion increases in proportion to his 
requirement. When he has exhausted all means of procuring 
subsistence, and when he can no longer put off the cravings 
of hunger, he sets no limit to his aggressions, and will brave 
every danger rather than perish by famine. In open day he i 
will then proceed to where herds of oxen and sheep pasture, 
entirely disregarding shepherds and Dogs. At such times he 
has been known to carry his rashness so far as to attack a 
drove of Buffaloes — an action which is all the bolder as a single 
one, unless it is taken by surprise, is well able to defend itself. 
“ I have it on good authority,” says Sparrmann, “ that a Lion | 
was thrown down, wounded, and trampled under foot so seriously 
as to cause death by a herd of cattle he had ventured to attack in 
open day.” 
Livingstone, too, the celebrated English traveller, was witness to 
a herd of Buffaloes defending themselves against several Lions. 
The bulls stood in front, the females and young ones keeping 
behind them. 
When nearly famished, the Lion will make shift with carrion, 
although it may be in a very decomposed state ; moreover, he is 
in the habit of returning the next day to consume the remains 
of his yesterday’s feast — a thing which is not done by others 
of the Feline tribe. 
One feature, which seems peculiar to the nature of South 
African Lions, is, that they will combine to hunt those animals 
which singly they are unable to encounter with certainty of 
success. Delegorgue relates that, in winter, twenty or thirty 
Lions have been seen to assemble during the day-time, and 
drive their game into narrow passes, in which some of their 
confreres were posted. These are, he says, regular battues , 
conducted in due order, but without noise ; for the smell of 
the Lion is quite sufficient to drive before it the herbivorous 
animals. The Bhinoceros is sometimes destroyed in this way by 
associations of Lions. 
