VI A PACK OF HY.ENAS in 



two of the wild dogs. The remainder of the pack 

 then ran off, leaving the hyaena alone. Mr. Reid 

 would not shoot him, because of the brave and 

 determined fight he had made, and he presently 

 lumbered off at a heavy gallop, apparently none 

 the worse for his all-night encounter with the 

 wild dogs. 



Hyaenas do not always lie up during the day 

 in caves or in holes in the ground. I have often 

 found them sleeping in patches of long grass, and 

 have had many a good gallop after them. I 

 always found they ran very fast, though I have 

 galloped right up to several in good open ground, 

 but it was just as much as my horse could do to 

 overtake them. Once whilst riding across the 

 Mababi plain in 1879, about two hours after sun- 

 rise I heard some hyaenas howling ; but they were 

 so far off that I could not see them, though the 

 plain was perfectly level and open, as all the long 

 summer grass had been burnt off. As the noise 

 they were making, however, was very great and 

 quite unaccountable by broad daylight, I determined 

 to see what was going on, and galloped in the 

 direction of the strange sounds. After a time I 

 sighted a regular pack of hyaenas trotting along 

 towards the belt of thorn bush at the top end of 

 the plain, and beyond the hyaenas I could see 

 there were three animals which looked larger and 

 of a different build, and which I thought must 

 be lions. I then galloped as hard as I could in 

 order to get up to these three animals before 

 they entered the bush. As I galloped, I passed 

 and counted fifteen hyaenas, trotting along like 

 great dogs, most of which stopped and stood 

 looking at me without any sign of fear as I rode 

 close past them. All the time some of them kept 

 howling. I now saw that the three larger animals 

 were lionesses, and that there were several more 



