650 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
The Lion, so long credited with being the “ king of beasts,” has, in our 
democratic days, been shorn of much of his glory, for science deals but hardly with 
mistaken ideas, even though these have the support of antiquity and even the 
attractiveness of ^Esop’s Fables. Livingstone and other African travellers say that 
the lion is only a cowardly thief in the night, and that’it can be put to flight by 
the barking of dogs, the shouts of persons, a bright light, or even by a stout 
whip fearlessly applied. He will fight only in extremity and even then will 
not “ fight to a finish.” But let this last characteristic count in maintaining 
his reputation for magnanimity, even though his ferocious courage is to be but 
a myth. It seems that a lion becomes a man-eater when he no longer has the 
teeth required for mangling the flocks and wild animals. Entertaining as 
Buffon is, his reputation as a trustworthy naturalist has been wrecked by the 
larger opportunities and increased information of the scientists who have 
succeeded him. Lions , like men, form hunting-parties and co-operate in the 
capture of game, which 
they drive in con¬ 
stantly narrowing cir¬ 
cles. Dr. Livingstone 
asserts that it is hardly 
possible to distinguish 
between the roar of a 
lion and the cry of an 
ostrich. The lion seems 
to stand a good chance 
of becoming extinct, 
for he is no longer 
found in Asia, Asia 
Minor, Greece or Per¬ 
sia, and has almost dis¬ 
appeared from Hindo- 
stan. The Indian lion 
is smaller in stature 
than the African lion, 
take care! has a shorter and thin¬ 
ner mane, and is rep¬ 
resented by the Bengal lion , the Arabian or Persian lion , and the marvellous 
lion of Goojerat. The African, likewise, represents three species: the yellow- 
brown, full-maned Barbary lion , the light-yellow lion of Senegal , and the Cape 
lion which is either brown or yellow in its color. The maximum size of the 
lion is about eight feet, with an allowance of some four feet more for the tail. 
Sir Samuel Baker tells of finding a lion within thirty yards of his camp. 
He baited it with a wounded buffalo and thus tracked it to the jungle. Coming 
suddenly upon the animal, he shot it from the small distance of three yards, and 
as it bounded away, was greatly astonished to find its place taken by a lioness 
which escaped while Baker’s attendants were making up their minds whether 
to hand their master a loaded gun. or to seek safety in flight. The next day, 
the lion was found in a dying condition. At one time Baker’s camp was invaded 
by a lion which, to effect an entrance, had to break through a dense and high 
thorn-picket. It was finally driven away by firebrands and met its death while 
