e male lions meet at a fountain, a
terrific combat ensues, which not unfrequently ends in the death of one
of them. The habits of the lion are strictly nocturnal; during the day
he lies concealed beneath the shade of some low, bushy tree or
wide-spreading bush, either in the level forest or on the mountain side.
He is also partial to lofty reeds, or fields of long, rank, yellow
grass, such as occur in low-lying vleys. From these haunts he sallies
forth when the sun goes down, and commences his nightly prowl. When he
is successful in his beat and has secured his prey, he does not roar
much that night, only uttering occasionally a few low moans; that is,
provided no intruders approach him, otherwise the case would be very
different.

Lions are ever most active, daring, and presuming in dark and stormy
nights, and consequently, on such occasions, the traveler ought more
particularly to be on his guard. I remarked a fact connected with the
lions' hour of drinking peculiar to themselves: they seemed unwilling to
visit the fountains with good moonlight. Thus, when the moon rose early,
the lions deferred their hour of watering until late in the morning; and
when the moon rose late, they drank at a very early hour in the night.
By this acute system many a grisly lion saved his bacon, and is now
luxuriating in the forests of South Africa, which had otherwise fallen
by the barrels of my "Westley Richards." Owing to the tawny color of the
coat with which nature has robed him, he is perfectly invisible in the
dark; and although I have often heard them loudly lapping the water
under my very nose, not twenty yards from me. I could not possibly make
out so much as the outline of their forms. When a thirsty lion comes to
water, he stretches out his massive arms, lies down on his breast to
drink, and makes a loud lapping noise in drinking not to be mistaken. He
continues lapping up the water for a long while, and four or five times
during the proceeding he pauses for half a minute as if to take breath.
One thing conspicuous about them is their eyes, which, in a dark night,
glow like two balls of fire. The female is more fierce and active than
the male, as a general rule. Lionesses which have never had young are
much more dangerous than those which have. At no time is the lion so
much to be dreaded as when his partner has got small young ones. At that
season he knows no fear, and, in the coolest and most intrepid manner,
he will face a t