ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
121 
of the African lion, but the physiognomy of no two African 
lions is exactly alike. The lion exhibited in this house 
is from Mesopotamia. He was presented to the Gardens 
when only a few months old, and came under the name 
of Rasheed to which he still answers. The donor, the 
late Mr. F. F. Carter of Busrah, also presented a young 
lioness in the latter part of the same year> 1878, and this 
animal was so tame, that it followed its keeper about the 
Gardens and could generally be left tied up under a tree, 
but unfortunately it died within eighteen months after its 
arrival. Two specimens of the Indian lion from Kathiawar 
were presented by the Nawab of Junagarh, in 1877, but 
the animals were young and never throve, and first one 
and then the other died before reaching maturity. The lion 
differs from all the other cats or Felidce in having a tuft 
at the end of its tail in both sexes, and there is said to be a 
small horny excrescence or spur hidden in the tuft, and it 
has been supposed that when the lion lashes his tail against 
his flanks he is spurring himself with his tail-spur to 
arouse his courage and ferocity. Dr. Livingstone, the great 
African traveller, did not consider the lion formidable if 
met by day, or even in clear moonlight. On moonlight 
nights the buffaloes of his camp were allowed to roam 
at liberty, but on dark, and especially stormy nights, they 
had to be securely tethered near the camp fires, as the 
lion was abroad in search of his prey, and his tremendous 
roar heard on these dark nights intimated his success in 
capturing it. Only rarely does the lion attack man ; indeed} 
it is said, that when a lion becomes a man-eater he is old 
and unable to capture his natural and favourite food, the 
antelope and buffalo. It is also stated that under this 
condition he occasionally takes to eating grass, and 
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