"T inhabiting the South of Africa. 461 
extremity of his habitation to the other without resting*. He 
always appeared to relish meat in which the blood remained, 
more than that from which it-had escaped; and he invariably 
betrayed a great anxiety to destroy whatever animals came near 
him. On occasions when he succeeded in effecting this, he 
regularly lay down upon his victim and rolled over and over it, 
after which he carefully licked up such blood as might be upon 
` it, or upon the ground on which it lay. 
After a continuance of such gambols for about half or three- 
quarters of an hour, he usually proceeded to consume his prey; 
and then, as well as at other times, when he had more than he 
could at once devour, he generally concealed it in some hole or 
corner, and there let it remain till hunger urged him to make 
another meal. He always evinced a great liking to bones, and 
often would seize upon them in preference to flesh, and employ 
his teeth for hours together in breaking them in pieces, and his 
tongue in collecting the marrow and soft parts from the frac- 
tured portions. Such employment he appeared to pursue partly 
às a pastime and partly as a means of gratifying his palate, which 
the species under consideration, as well as the Crocuta, is known 
to practise in his wild retreat, or place of concealment. 
While one day employed in secretly observing the habits of 
this animal, I noticed an upright beam, which stood in one corner 
of the building in which he was confined, besmeared towards its 
middle with a dirty white-looking matter resembling impure 
candle-grease. . On continuing to survey it, I saw the Hyæna 
approach the spot and lick off a portion with his tongue, which 
proceeding he repeated several times in close succession, till 
almost all of it had disappeared. Leaving him when scarcely 
* [ have often observed hawks, when in a state of confinement, do the same, which 
was probably to make up for the want of their natural exercise, so requisite for proper 
digestion. 
any 
