LOVE AND GALLANTRY. 
41 
befall her; thinking not of satisfying his own 
hunger until such times as his wife has eaten her 
fill. His love is not confined to the pairing season, 
for at all times, and under all circumstances, he 
evinces for her the tenderest regard.” 
But the love and affection thus shewn by the lion 
for the lioness, would not seem to be always duly 
reciprocated. Indeed, according to the author just 
quoted, “ she is of a somewhat fickle disposition, for 
if a stronger and more courageous lion presents 
himself and solicits her favours, she deserts her 
spouse, and places herself under the protection of 
his rival.” “What she seeks for in the first in¬ 
stance,” Gerard goes on to say, “ is a full-grown 
and adult mate, who is able to rid her of the young 
lions, her suitors, whose constant combats with each 
each other on her account weary her out.” In 
Algeria, according to Gerard, at the end of January, 
when adult male lions, strangers to each other, 
meet at the fountain, or elsewhere, desperate battles, 
not unfrequently ending in the death of one or both 
of the combatants, take place, yet it is more espe¬ 
cially during the pairing season that these animals 
exhibit a belligerent disposition. 
“ It is then not uncommon,” says Gerard, in his 
usual poetical style, “ to see a lioness accompanied 
by three or four young lions, her admirers, who fight 
desperately amongst themselves for her favours; but 
as she at length becomes weary of seeing that they 
are unable to destroy one another on her account, 
she leads them towards a grand old lion, whose 
