A Game Ranger's Note Book

A GAME RANGER’S NOTE BOOK

CHAPTER I

LION

Distribution—Characters—Size—Weight—Races—Haunt open country—Apparent change of habit—Spotting in young and old—In the Mau and Uasingishu—Athi Plains the lion district—The Kapiti Plains—The Masai Reserve—The Lion Ordinance—Maneless lion of the coast—Of Laikipia region—Of the Eusso Nyiro—Of Serengati Plains—Of Nyika and Taru Deserts—The Somali lion—Boldness of—Southern Game Reserve—Reasons for numbers there—In settled districts—Increased numbers annually killed—Weight of lions.

TWO races of Felis leo are recognised by science, namely masaica and somalica; but every type of lion is found in the Kenya Colony, from the grand black-maned beast of the Mau and Uasingishu Plateaux to the small Somali lion of the Northern Districts; the lion of the coast differs from either of these, large of size, but lacking a mane.

Lions are found almost everywhere except in the heaviest forests and certain areas near Lake Victoria; unlike the tiger, which is first and foremost a dweller in the jungles, the lion is to a great extent a beast of the open, and only seeks shelter in forest and thick undergrowth when compelled by persecution. There are, however, in the disappearance of the heavy manes that distinguish the animals of the open lands, indications that the lions frequent bush country to a much greater extent than they did formerly; the lions of the open, which carry the finest manes, are naturally more liable to destruction by the trophy-seeking sportsman than those that haunt the edges of forest or bush; but it may be also that, under stress, the animals are changing their mode of life and becoming forest-dwellers.

The quantity of spotting retained by the adult distinguishes the lion of East Africa from other forms. Cubs, as everybody knows, are very distinctly spotted—the photograph of two of my pets shows how obvious in the very young animal are the markings, though these stand out more clearly in some lights than in others. Individuals carry the spots for years, whereas others lose them early in life. In 1903 I shot a lioness which was very clearly spotted, and the cubs, which I captured, had inherited her peculiarity, for they were more distinctly marked than any I have seen. Lions also vary slightly in body colour, some being darker than others.

By far the finest specimens are found on the Mau and Uasingishu Plateaux; the lions of this region greatly exceed in size those of the Athi Plains, and the manes are infinitely better than those of the lions in any other part of the country. There can be no doubt that the cold climate on the Plateaux stimulates growth of hair, but I do not suppose that climate has any influence on colour. There is, I take it, a strain or breed of blackmaned lions, for it is a fact to be remarked that in the Mau district about 40 per cent, of the lions have black or dark manes, whereas on the Athi Plains not more than 5 per cent, are even dark. Lions with good manes are fairly plentiful on the Athi Plains, but one seldom sees a mane that can be called black; in the majority of cases the hair is tawny, a portion being very dark—even black; but the effect is quite different from the true black mane. One lion I obtained on the Athi had a mane lighter than the body colour; this is quite unusual.

The Athi Plains are the lion district; in earlier days a great many were shot here, and despite the numbers that have been killed of late years, it is not to be assumed that there is any scarcity; on the contrary, lions are numerous enough to give a good deal of trouble; the district borders on the Game Reserve where abundant food is to be found, and until the Reserve is fenced, confining the game, and therefore the lions’ hunting ground, excursions into the open must be expected. Lions and stock cannot share the same lands, and the time must come when the lion will be rare in all but the bush country. During 1913 I was able to find one for a sporting friend close to Nairobi; and an elderly sportsman saw ten within nine days close to the Athi River Station. Fed from the Game Reserve, the lion of the Athi is likely to maintain its numbers.

Lions are numerous also in the Kapiti District of these plains, and do much mischief among the stock, notwithstanding the fact that they are hunted nearly every Sunday. I do not know how many are killed in the year, but some eight or ten had been bagged in the first two months of 1914, before I left for a trip home.

Next to the Athi among lion districts may be placed the open country along the old Anglo-German border from Lake Natron to the vicinity of Lake Victoria; this includes the Loita Plains and the Lemik district, and is now the Masai Reserve, closed to white men for settlement. Set thus apart for the use of the original lords of the soil, this country should remain a hunting ground for many years. Large numbers have been killed there in past days; I have known several bags of twenty each made by two guns ; and as it was part of the area protected by the Lion Ordinance, which limited the number which might be shot by the licence holder to four, the lions increased. They became so numerous that the Ordinance was withdrawn; any number of lions may now be killed. The manes from these parts are not as a rule heavy, but some very good ones have been obtained; a large portion of the area consists of hot, dry country, and the animals carry less hair than their relatives in higher altitudes.

The maneless lion of the coast is large; also he is distinctly dangerous, which may be due to the respect with which the people regard him; for the coast natives are poor sportsmen, and seldom molest the lion, which live, largely, on their flocks and herds. Accustomed for ages to take toll unhindered of the sheep and cattle, these lions have little fear of man. During the dry season they live inland along the edge of the tropical coast belt; during the rains they resort to the grounds nearer the sea, when they do much damage among the domestic animals, and kill many people. Early in 1914, while visiting Shimoni, not five miles from the sea, I came upon three lions on the road: as this is not a game district I had not a rifle handy or might have had an easy shot, so little notice did they take of me.

Turning inland again, the Laikipia region offers something of a conundrum. In the earliest days some very fine lions were shot there; then the manes seemed to go off, the animals showing nothing like the wealth of hair that had distinguished them. Latterly the manes have again improved; I have seen good skins from this part of the Protectorate. In January, 1914, a party of three guns, during a very short trip, bagged ten, including one of the best killed that season. The same party, by the way, got a very fine rhino with horns of 32 inches, a most unusual size.

North of the Laikipia District, on the banks of the Eusso Nyiro,* lions are very numerous, and, despite the fact that this region is both hot and dry, they sometimes carry wonderfully good manes. On the Northern Eusso Nyiro (Muddy River), below the Chanler Falls they are exceedingly abundant. I have seen there more spoor than in any other district; the animals seemed to be on trek, for we found spoor on every track along the river, and all pointed up-stream. On the Serengati Plains, open but dry areas, we find a fair number of lions. The indifferent manes are to be accounted for partly by the hot climate, and partly by the prevalence of bush, which pulls out the long hairs. When all is said and done, it is rare that the wild lion carries such a mane as may be seen on him who lives in Zoological Gardens, where the hair grows unspoiled.

In the even drier parts of the Nyika and Taru Deserts there are still some lions. Game is scarce in these regions, and no doubt this explains why man- eaters are found here more often than elsewhere. Water is also scarce, and for this reason the lions seek the supplies at stations on the Uganda Railway. Quite a number of natives are killed in the neighbourhood of the railway every year.

All that has been said in the foregoing pages refers to the race known as masaica. A word or two must be said of somalica. The Somali lion is distinguished by its smaller size, large ears, and lighter colour. It carries little in the shape of mane, a fact perhaps to be explained by the nature of its haunts, desert among thorn bush. This race is found north of the Eusso Nyiro and also north of Baringo. They are the boldest lions it has ever been my fortune to meet, and if I never lost pack or riding animals it was from no lack of effort or enterprise on their part. Frequently they would come round by night to see what they could pick up, and a good boma and watchful guards were needed to keep them at their distance.

Reviewing the whole country within my knowledge, I think there are far more lions in the Southern Game Reserve than in any other district; it is not too much to say that they swarm there, and the reason for their plenty lies on the surface—protected from the sportsman’s rifle and with an unlimited supply of game, they live in peace on the fat of the land. Their only foes are the Masai. When a lion takes to cattle-killing these people rise in wrath and turn out to hunt him. Also a few are killed by the young Moran to blood their spears, but the numbers thus slain cannot make any appreciable difference.

In the settled districts the case is different; where stock-farming and ostrich farming are extensively carried on the lions have been steadily killed down. The animals have either been killed or have learned their lesson, and, unless the country lend itself to concealment, deserted these dangerous grounds. The Mau and Uasingishu Plateaux offer an illustration in point. This is now the most populous part of the Protectorate—a sad thing from the sportsman’s point of view; but in spite of settlement there are still many lions. The numerous small papyrus swamps on the many rivers offer safe harbour, of which they take full advantage, and there is no reason why they should not continue in the district provided they refrain from depredations on stock. I have heard few complaints of misdeed in the shape of cattle-killing, and the lions killed are killed in a sporting way. The settlers are not addicted to the use of poison, if only because the majority keep dogs and are averse from risking the lives of their favourites. While writing on the fine dark manes carried by the lions in these parts, I might have mentioned that one of the very best ever killed in any part of the country was the one obtained by Nandi spearmen in 1913. The skin is now owned by a sportsman who was present at the hunt. By reason of their frequent hunts the Nandi excel even the Masai as lion-killers.

The number killed throughout the Protectorate by settlers and sportsmen has increased greatly every year, and yet the lion population does not seem to diminish. One party in 1913 killed over thirty, and bags of two figures were common. I cannot remember higher figures in the returns in any year of my service. But it is only necessary to travel a little way from the settlement and the regular beaten tracks of safaris to find lions as numerous as ever they were.

Having said something of the relative sizes of the lions in various districts it may be well to particularise a little. A big one will stand as much as 44 inches at the shoulder, not including the mane; a big lioness will stand 36 inches; the average would be about 42 inches for the male and 35 for the female. And it is to be observed that the size of the beast is curiously deceptive; a full-grown lion is as a rule much bigger than one supposes, more especially is he higher at the shoulder. The best idea of height is obtained when the animal is walking undisturbed through long grass: a male will show up over it, whereas the female will be quite hidden. I say undisturbed, for there is a vast difference between the apparent size of the lion unconscious of danger and the same beast trying to escape notice; in the latter case he will worm his way unseen through grass so short that it seems scarcely more than enough to hide a rabbit.

The length of a good lion is anything over 9 feet 2 inches. If over 9 feet 5 inches he is indeed a big one. I refer, of course, to true measure, that made between uprights placed at nose and tail tip, and not taken along curves. No lion that I personally have measured has exceeded 9 feet 4 inches.

The weight of a lion is a fruitful source of argument. It is much greater than one is inclined to estimate. A nice male in the prime of life, neither fat nor having the developed muscle of an older beast, weighed 420 lb. as it fell. This lion was shot by Mr. R. J. Stordy, who brought it in to Nairobi by train and weighed the carcase within a few hours of death. Having regard to the size and condition of this lion, I am convinced that some of those I have seen would have weighed fully 500 lb., if not more.* I confess to being surprised when the scale gave the weight, for I should never have ventured to guess it so high, and suspect that I am under the mark now when I estimate the weight of a good lioness at 300 lb. A fair example weighed, after cutting up, 280 lb.; but, of course, something was lost in the process of quartering.

* See p. v.

* I happened to be at South Shields when a fine lion in Edmunds’ Menagerie died. The carcase weighed 434 lb.

CHAPTER II

LION: HABITS

Cave resorts—Breeding lairs—Probably polygamous—Solitary males—Period of gestation—Number of cubs in litter—Courage of nursing lioness—Lioness charges if male shot—More killing done by mother—Young remain long with mother—Troops—Cubs easily hand-reared—How to increase lion population—Cubs for Maharajah of Gwalior—Autocratic cub—Cub and lurcher bitch—Pranks of cubs—The Bishop’s call—Mischievous propensities—Behaviour with dogs—Good temper—Use of bodily weight in catching quarry—Worsted by buffalo, zebra, giraffe, or eland—Fights with giraffe—Fish-eating lions of Lake Rudolph region—Lions and crocodiles—Cattle killing—Little danger from, where game is plentiful—Salt licks—Native reports worth investigation—Masai and malaria—The Chimiset.

I REMEMBER being told in my nursery days, and much later, that lions breed in caves. I do not wish to dogmatise, for what applies to the animals of one country may not apply to all, but the statement is certainly incorrect so far as concerns any portion of Africa with which I am acquainted.

They will lie up in underground holes, clefts in rock, and similar retreats; there are caves, some of them extensive, in the kloofs that run down to the Athi River, and in these lions often seek shelter; they have been killed in or near these caves, and I have heard of one being bolted by a dog. Quantities of bones are sometimes found in their recesses, and the presence of such may have given birth to the idea that a lion’s breeding lair has been found.

The bones referred to, which, by the way, often include human remains, may be carried thither by hyænas, whose haunts are often mistaken for those of lions; hyænas will collect bones thus, but the lion seldom carries food any distance from the spot where he killed; this, of course, does not apply to the nursing lioness.

I think I am right in saying that the orthodox breeding spot is some thickly wooded kloof, thick belt of bush near a creek, or cover on the margin of forest; also I think a lioness resorts, if not to the same spot, to the same locality, year after year to bring forth her young. Certain places are favourite breeding lairs—the edge of the Kikuyu Forest, the bush about the foot of the Matabato Hills, and the deep, wooded kloofs round El Donyo Narok, for example; these are always tolerably sure finds. About such favourite breeding grounds females are far more abundant than in other districts. On the other hand, males often largely outnumber the females on the outskirts of a game district.

The way to bring about increase in the lion population is to kill down the fine old males. It was a subject of general remark that on the Athi, when the railway was being constructed, the number of lions increased. I have often discussed this with men who take an interest in the subject, for the frequency of killing in those days would naturally lead one to expect the reverse; and the explanation seems to be this: Sportsmen made a point of shooting the finest specimens, preferring the heavily maned old males who would have a number of females; the death of such a lion would break up his harem, and the younger males would take from among them a mate or two, satisfied with a less numerous establishment than the departed senior. Youthful sires with greater procreative power than old ones would account for increased breeding.

Outside the Game Reserve, on the Athi Plains, there is usually a large proportion of males among the lion population.

Little is known of the breeding habits of the species.

I am decidedly of opinion that the male is polygamous, experience showing that the lion is more often found accompanied by several females than by a single one. I do not forget that some of those beasts I have taken to be females may have been young males, but this does not affect the strength of my conviction that the old lion is not content with a single mate, nor does the fact that I have seen a certain number of pairs. Once, in broad daylight, I saw a lioness followed by four males, all of which carried fine manes; there were others with them which may have been her own three-parts grown cubs. I gained the impression that the lady was to be wooed and won; if those four maned lions fought for her it would have been a sight for the gods!

Sometimes, but not often, a solitary male occurs, and when this happens he is frequently a very fine beast. It is rare to find a solitary female. Occasionally two, but never more, big males are seen together. Young males, on the other hand, are sometimes found in small parties.

The period of gestation is known to be 108 days. Cubs are born at all seasons of the year, but, judging from the size of those I have seen, the majority are dropped between November and March. Though apparently one litter is produced in the year under normal circumstances, I have little doubt that should the lioness lose her first family she would mate again that year. The usual number of cubs appears to be three or four, but all seldom survive, for two cubs are most generally seen with the mother when she emerges into the open. By far the greater number of cubs I have seen in captivity were males, whereas among adults, females are much in the majority. I suppose the rule governing more exalted beings holds good, and male lion cubs are harder to rear than their sisters. The lioness with cubs is very dangerous; she will rush out and attack unprovoked any one who may pass near them—of course with the thought of defence. Exceptions to the rule occur; twice I have known a female leave her family in the face of danger and without making any particular fuss over it; but such displays of chicken-heartedness are rare.

There is an interesting point to be noticed in connection with the courage of the lioness: if the sexes be found together and the male be shot, one of the females is almost certain to attack, though herself unwounded. So well is this understood that men of experience always advise that the male be shot first. You may count upon getting a lioness afterwards—though you may have to kill her in the act of charging. I once, after a long hunt, came up with a bunch consisting of a lion and three females; the country was open, and when about forty yards from the male and twenty from the nearest lioness I tried to get a shot at him, ignoring his ladies. Suddenly my gunbearer said quite quietly, One is coming, and, as I turned, the nearest female threw up her tail and started. She did not come far, dropping to a bullet from the ‘450 under the eye, which killed her on the spot. The rest of the party broke at the shot, and were off before I could get my sights on the lion. It was the more disappointing because, having been ill, I was too weak to follow them up.

YOUNG LION CUBS.

Many cases of the lioness charging when her mate has been killed are on record; a man was mauled in such an encounter some years ago. He was using a double 8-bore, which had a weakness not uncommon among these very heavy rifles, the liability of discharge of one barrel to explode the other. He pulled trigger, and both barrels went off, with the usual result that the kick knocked him backwards, and before he could recover his feet the lioness was upon him. She bit his shoulder, then drew off to stand a few yards away, till a plucky Somali gunbearer came up and gave his master a second rifle, with which he killed her. The lioness is as brave a wife as she is brave a mother.

I think the more lithe and active female does more killing than the male; but the lion, with his greater weight and strength can deal with a larger quarry than the lioness. Frequency of killing is obviously the rôle of the mother with a family to feed rather than of the male who has only to look after himself.

The young remain with their dam till almost as big as she is, and often, I think, stay with her for some time after a second litter is born; but this phase of lion domestic life is somewhat obscure. One thing is quite certain—it is not at all uncommon for several mothers of families to combine and keep together. A lioness appears thus to throw in her lot with neighbours when her cubs are three months old or a little more; the youngest cubs I have seen in a troop would have been about that age. It is only conjecture, but I think this system of assembling in what we know as troops, has very practical advantages, enabling some of the mothers to travel and hunt while others do nursery duty and protect the youngsters from foes.

Hence the many native stories of large litters produced at a birth, the lioness in charge of her own and friends’ children being mistaken for the mother of the whole crowd. Many times I have seen from six to a dozen young cubs running with three or four females; rarely is a male to be found in attendance on such a party. The inference is that the lion does not excel as a father, leaving the onus of rearing and providing for the family to his mate.

While the old male is very seldom found with a young family, it is not rare to meet a party consisting of a number of females escorted by a couple of adult males. I think I have seen this most often at the time when lions are following game on their seasonal migrations, for at this time they do, beyond question, collect in parties, a proceeding for which I have no explanation to suggest.

Twice lion cubs with eyes still unopened have been brought me. Not one survived a week; all died before their eyes opened, despite the utmost care. Oddly enough, cubs taken at an age but little more advanced are easily reared by hand.

I conclude that the blind cubs died from weakness, and for this reason: the eyes, as proven by experience in the Dublin Zoo,* open at the latest within forty- eight hours of birth, whereas mine lived as much as a week without opening their eyes.

I gained some insight into the ways and methods of the species through the cubs I reared at one time. I am not prepared to assert that young lions are the most suitable pets to keep in a station, particularly when left at large, as were mine. Some of my most esteemed neighbours might express the same opinion with more vigour; but an official of the Game Department has various tasks thrust upon him, and when Authority was pleased to utilise my services in this way I accepted its behest without a murmur. The murmuring was done by other people. If any one was to blame it was H.H. the Maharajah of Gwalior, who about 1902 or 1903 wished to try and reintroduce the lions which in a former age abounded in the forests of Scinde.

The Maharajah wrote to Lord Curzon, who wrote to the then Commissioner of British East Africa, Sir Charles Eliot, who passed the business on to me with instructions to do what I could. Thus it will be apparent that the term pets is in some sort a misnomer; the cubs were the protégés of two governments, and I, who presume to claim proprietorship, was no more than a humble instrument in the hands of Fate.

I set to work at once, offering rewards to the natives for cubs, and before long the people began to bring them in. The first was produced by a Masai; he was younger than I could have wished, a tiny little fellow who gave me as much trouble as a baby. He was like any human baby in some respeots; he slept on my bed and insisted on milk during the night, and he got it. I understand now why children are so autocratic, why it is so hard to bring them up in the right way after they have exercised the supreme authority of infancy. If I did not wake up as soon as that cub began to cry, he took his own measures. I wonder how often I woke in response to a little rough tongue on my face or a resolute endeavour to extract milk from my ear! But mothers and nurses will foresee the result: he got his milk and went back to his own end of the bed to sleep again. He was very human: give him what he wanted when he wanted it, and he would be good. In course of time he grew too big for the bed, and old enough to be disciplined, otherwise I suppose he would have insisted on my turning out. As it was he consented to occupy a box on the floor, within reach of my hand. He now slept the night through without requiring me to get up and give him a drink, but he demanded it very early in the morning.

He and my lurcher bitch, Lady, were great friends, and he often tried to obtain milk from her. Eventually his perseverance was rewarded, for a litter of puppies arrived and he joined the family, uninvited, the day after they were born, Lady accepting him without demur, though she would not allow another dog to come near—an interesting example of the domination of the maternal instinct, which has many parallels in the history of foster-motherhood. As the cub was large and hungry I reduced Lady’s own family to two to give her a chance, and when, within a fortnight, my men brought in two more cubs, the remaining puppies had to go. She, not seeming to mind, adopted the new babies and was proud of them. The big one, by the way, was now old enough to eat a small ration of finely chopped meat, so he was allowed to take only a little milk from his foster-mother. I would here draw attention to the fact that flesh-eating animals fed on butcher’s meat must have salt; in the natural state they would obtain it in the shape of fresh blood; artificially reared, they require the substitute.

LADY AND FOSTER-CHILD.

The pranks of those Government protégés were a fruitful source of interest—I hesitate to write amusement—to every one in the station. One day, returning home from the office, I found that the big cub had wandered away—neither he nor his fellows were ever tied up—so hastily summoning all my boys we turned out to scour the country. We searched in vain till I, passing near the road, was assailed with a volley of language from a man who told me to go and take my——lion away from the club tennis courts. I went, but I did not reach the tennis courts; when within hail of the club-house somebody called; he called with urgency, and I obeyed, to find my lost lion chained up on the veranda. It appeared that a very frightened dog had rushed across a tennis court, disturbing a smart rally, and before any one had time to say what he thought of that dog, the reason for his alarm appeared in the person of my lion. His intentions towards the dog were quite friendly, had the cur only known it, but the lion was diverted from his playful purpose by a tennis ball which came his way, and he stopped to eat it, a proceeding which did nothing to commend him to the tennis party. They all knew the lion, but not everybody felt qualified to assume the office of tamer; fortunately there was present a man who knew him intimately, and he, getting a rope round the trespasser’s neck, led him off to the club. Why the man should have thought the reading-room the best place for his captive, and why he should have taken off the rope before he opened the door and turned the lion in, I leave him to explain. Having cleared the reading-room, as he had cleared the tennis court, the lion was recaptured and chained up to wait for me.

The cubs were expensive in one respect; the bills for breakages were heavy, for, as became scions of a royal race, they did things on the grand scale. A favourite joke was to wait till the table was laid for a meal, when they would take hold of one corner of the cloth and walk away with it, bringing everything down with a crash. The clatter amused them immensely—far more than it did me. Clothes hanging to dry on a line offered agreeable sport—washing day was a great occasion; anything waving in the wind was a plaything and torn to rags. The misdeeds of foxhound puppies occur to mind while reviewing those of the young lions.

Stray dogs furnished them with infinite opportunities, and here one might see their instincts developing. A dog would appear, and the cubs, marking him at once, would cease their play and take cover behind boxes or anything convenient, or, failing concealment, lie flat down where they happened to be. The quarry coming within reach they would make the most careful stalk and—if the dog let them approach near enough—rush upon him. They never succeeded in catching one, the dogs were always too quick; and then they would stand with a wondering look on their faces to watch the cloud of dust that enveloped the dog as it grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

But they lacked discretion; they failed to distinguish between stray dogs and more exalted beings, and this led to their deportation. It had, of course, always been intended to send them to the Maharajah of Gwalior, but I personally was in no hurry to part. It came about in this wise: A very reverend gentleman came to call, whether on my stable companion or myself, I do not know, as he did not stop to leave a card; but he did kindly call, and, unfortunately, was greeted upon the veranda by three lions, all bigger than retriever dogs, who rose, stretched, yawned, and came forward to receive him. Their advance, prefaced by that ominous yawning, was too much; they could not explain that they were merely inviting him to romp in all amiability and good-fellowship. Had he understood this I am sure he would have indulged them, for he was nothing if not kind. But he did not understand, he decided to call another day, and went hurriedly; and my stable companion only emerged from his room in time to see, faintly through a cloud of dust, a pair of gaitered legs, the three cubs in joyous pursuit.

That terminated their stay under our roof. I was away on safari at the time, and when I returned, two days after the incident, Sir Donald Stewart, then Commissioner of East Africa, sent me word that the lions must go. He put it very nicely: You can easily get more cubs, but we could never get another bishop. It was not for me to argue; I do not know anything about the supply of bishops, but I can understand the feelings of elderly gentlemen chased by lion cubs, and respect the dignitaries of the Church. Three sadder, and, I hope, wiser, cubs sailed for India, to be released amid surroundings where there should be no bishops. I was sorry; they were an interesting study.

While they lived about the house there was only one danger I really dreaded, and that was lest the native children, who used fearlessly to play nearly all day with them, should get hurt. I had a bad half- hour once, when both the cook’s child and the lions were reported missing. It was a relief when the youngster was found safe in a neighbour’s cook-house; good-tempered as they were, I feared for a time that there had been an accident.

When the cubs went to India the big one was about twenty months old, and weighed over 150 lb. He was in perfect condition and tremendously strong, and he was the best tempered beast I ever had the pleasure to meet; in the countless romps we had together he never intentionally put out a claw.

I learned from these cubs how lions bring into operation the factor of bodily weight. In their play with Lady the method was to range alongside, throw an arm over the dog’s back and then bring the whole weight of the body—from hip to shoulder—to bear against her. If she were quick to draw clear, the cub would fall on his side, leaving