ts, _space_.

e nor'mous, _very large; huge_.

start'led, _suddenly alarmed; surprised_.

au'dible, _that may be heard_.

maj'esty, _greatness; nobility_.

increas'ing, _growing larger_.

* * * * *

THE LION.

There is, in the appearance of the lion, something both noble and
imposing. Nature has given him wonderful strength and beauty.

His body, when full grown, is only about seven feet long and less than
four feet high; but his large and shapely head, with its powerful jaws,
his glaring eye, and long, flowing mane, give him an air of majesty that
shows him worthy of the name--"King of Beasts."

Yet we are told that a lion will not willingly attack man, unless first
attacked himself or driven by hunger to forget his habits.

On meeting man suddenly, he will turn, retreat slowly for a short
distance, and then run away.

The lion belongs to the cat family, and his teeth and claws are similar
in form and action to those of the house cat.

His food is the flesh of animals; and so great is his appetite, that it
must require several thousand other animals to supply one lion with food
during his life-time.

His strength is so enormous that he can crush the skull of an ox with a
single blow of his powerful paw, and then grasp it in his jaws and bound
away.

Unless driven by hunger to bolder measures, he will hide in the bushes,
or in the tall reeds along the banks of rivers, and spring suddenly upon
the unlucky animal that chances to come near him.

Many lions have been captured, and their habits and appearance carefully
studied. Although there is a difference in color--some being of a
yellowish brown, others of a deep red, and a few silvery gray--the
general form and appearance of all lions is the same.

The mane is of a dark brown, or of a dusky color, and the tail nearly
three feet long, with a bunch of hair at the tip.

The lioness, or female lion, is smaller in every way than the male and
has no mane.

It is in the night-time that the lion goes out from his den to seek for
food, and his color is so dark and his movements so silent, that his
presence is not known even at the distance of a few yards.

These dangerous beasts are no longer found in Europe, although they
lived there in numbers many hundred years ago. It is only in the deserts
and rocky hills of Asia and Africa that they are met with.

Those who have visited a menagerie, and have seen a lion wi