-^ Hyaenas and Jackals 



Oscar Neumann's stay of nearly three years in 

 German and British East Africa seemed to have finally 

 established the fact that only the spotted hy:ena was to 

 be found in those regions. He stated, however, that, 

 according to the natives, a beast of prey similar to the 

 hyaena was to be found in pairs, and lived on the coast 

 .and ate fish. 



In the autumn of 1896 I baited a trap one evening 

 with a heron on the banks of Lake Natron, between 

 Kilimanjaro and \^ictoria Nyanza. Next morning I 

 found a striped hycena in the trap. Alfred Kaiser, who 

 was well acquainted with the species on account ot his 

 four years' sojourn on Sinai, declared this animal to be 

 identical with the one he knew in Arabia. This seemed 

 to dispose of the idea of confusion with the aard-wolf, 

 but the slight differences between this specimen and the 

 striped hycena already known were not to be discerned 

 without adequate materials tor comparison. 



The information I had so far collected still left doubts 

 in the minds of experts ; unfortunately I could not back 

 up my theory by scientific proofs. These were still to 

 seek, and could not be found in British East Africa, even 

 by such keen observers as F. G. Jackson, A. H. Neumann, 

 Lord Delamere, and others. This was reserved for the 

 great journey through Masai-land which I undertook tor 

 collecting purposes in the spring of 1899, 



By setting traps for hyeenas systematically I was able 

 to procure sixty-six skins and skulls, as well as entire 

 skeletons. Now, at last, all doubt was at an end ! A 

 letter from Professor INIatschie informed me that a spotted 



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