es the
buffalo's horns, then seizes the buffalo by the _throat_ from
underneath. In that way he always kills the buffalo. It is only a herd
of buffaloes that can beat a tiger, not just one buffalo.

A lion by himself is also unable to kill a giraffe in most cases; for if
the giraffe sees the lion coming, it will kick out with its hind legs or
its fore legs; and a kick from a giraffe has been known to disable a
lion completely. So if a lion by himself wants to attack a giraffe, he
must first stalk the giraffe stealthily, and then jump on it suddenly.

But as the lion cannot usually come near enough to do that, he generally
attacks a giraffe with the help of one or two lionesses. For then they
can all attack the giraffe from different sides; and as the giraffe
cannot kick different ways at once, one of them is sure to jump upon the
giraffe's back and bite it on the neck.

As I have just said, a lion cannot often stalk his prey near enough to
leap upon it. There is a reason for that. Compared with his size, _the
lion's leap is the shortest of all members of the Cat Tribe_. The
farthest that a lion has been known to leap, even with a run, is about
thirty feet--whereas a tiger has been seen to leap a distance of
forty-eight feet!

The lion's body is not meant for leaping far. His chest and fore legs
are very strong, but his hind legs are not quite so strong--and in
leaping an animal uses its hind legs most. For instance, the kangaroo
has the biggest leap of all four-legged animals of its size; and it has
very large hind legs and very small fore legs.

"But if the lion cannot leap very far, how does he catch his prey at
all?" you may ask.

I shall tell you. Like all other felines, he usually hunts at night. He
hides near a pool or a stream, and waits for his prey to come to drink.
Then he tries to approach the prey noiselessly on his padded feet. If he
succeeds in creeping near enough to leap upon it, he certainly has his
meal that night. But if he does not succeed in doing that, he tries
another plan. He roars!

[Illustration: Giraffes]

[Illustration: Kangaroo]

And that is an advantage a lion has over all other animals. None of
them can roar like him. Even a tiger's roar is not so loud, and so he
seldom tries to roar. But very often a lion _must_ roar to catch his
prey, and so by constant practice he has made his roar very terrible
indeed.

Yes, the lion really catches his prey by roaring. When the animals are