Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-08-05
SOUTH AFRICAN LIONS.
Huge Beasts That Prey at Night
While Roars Shake Ground.

While Roars Shake Ground.
Stewart Edward White, who brought
home a record of seventy-one lions
killed in South Africa. says that the
visitors to the zoo have no idea what
the real roar of that animal sounds
like. He calls the menagerie row. at
feeding time only a gentle hint of
what a wild lion can achieve in the
vocal line.
"a pack of lions will often deliher-
at9y drive game into narrow ravines
or eulde-saes where the killers are
waiting" he says in the American
Magazine. AT such times the man
| favored by the chance of an eneamp-
ment within five miles or so can hear
a slion's roar.
"Otherwise | doubt if he is apt often
to get the full voiced, genuine article.
THE peculiar questing cough of early
evening is resonant and deep in vibra-
ton. but it is call rather than
roar. No lion is fool enough to make
a neise when he is stalking.
"Afterward, when fulfilled. individu-
ais may open up few times, but only
| a few times. in sheer satisfaction, APP
parently, at being well fed. But when
seven or eight lions roar merely to
see how much noise they can make
as when driving game, or trying to
stampede your oxen on a wagon trip
the effect is something tremendous.
THE very substance of the ground
vibrates the air shakes. | can only
compare ii to the effect of a very
large, deep organ in very small
church There is something genuinely
awe-inspiring about it: and when the
repeated volleys rumble into silence
one can imagine the veldt crouched in
a rigid terror that shall endure.
THE only sure thing about a lion is
his originality. He has more exeep-
ton to his rules than the German
language. Men who have been mighty
lion hunters for many years. and who
have brought to their hunting close
observation. can only tell you what a
| lion may do in certain circumstances.
Following very broad principles. they
may even predict what he is aptsto
do. but never what he certainly will
do.
aJn general, then, the lion frequents
that part OF the country where feed
the great game herds From them he
takes his toll by night, retiring dur
ing the day into the shallow ravines.
the brush patches, or the rocky little
buttes. / have however. seen lions
miles from game, slumbering peace
fully atop an ant hill- Indeed, occa-
sionalIy pack of lions ike to ave
high in the tail grass ridges, where
every hunt will mean for them a or.
5 mile jaunt out and back again
"He needs water after feeding, and
so. rarely gets farther than or 10
miles from that necessity. He hunts
at night This is as nearly invarlabie
a rule as can be formulated in regard
to lions Yet once and perhaps twice,
/ saw lionesses stalking through tan
grass as early as 3 o'clock IN the al
ternoon. This eagerness may or may
not have had to do with the possess
sion of hungry cubs.
THE lions customary harmlessness
in the daytime is best evidenced, now
ever, by the comparative indifference
of the game to his presence then.
From a hill we watched three or these
beasts wandering leisurely across the
plains below. A herd of kongoms
feeding directly in their path merely
moved aside right and left, quite de-
liberately. to leave passage % yards
or so wide: but otherwise paid not the
slightest attention.
81 have several times seen this IN
cident or a modification of it, And yet,
conversely, on a number OF occasions
We have received our first intimation
of the presence of lions by the wild
stampeding of the game away from u
certain spot
However, the most of his hunting
is done by dark. Between the hours
of shutdown and 9 O'Clock he and his
friends may be heard uttering the