THE TIGER WOLF. 245 



against the bars, and utters its horrid peais of laughter, which seem to 

 be an expression of a pleasurable sensation. It accompanies this mani- 

 acal, mirthless, hysterical laugh with most absurd gestures— dancing 

 about in a state of frantic excitement, running backward and forward, 

 spinning round on its hind-legs, and nodding its head to the ground. 



This Hyasna usually lives in holes, or amongst rocks in retired locali 

 ties, and when the sun has set he comes forth and searches for food. He 

 then utters a long melancholy howl, which finishes with a sort of bark, 

 and occasionally that fiend-like laugh which, when heard in the desert, 

 amid scenes of the wildest description, calls up in the imagination of the 

 solitary traveler the forms of some spectral ghouls searching for their 

 unnatural feast. 



One of these animals was discovered in a state of sad laceration. 

 The two fore-paws were gone, and the legs themselves had been fright- 

 fully torn, evidently by some powerful beast of prey. The natives said 

 that it had been thus punished by the lion for interfering with his arrange- 

 ments, and stated, moreover, that the lion frequently corrected the for- 

 ward conduct of the Hyaena by biting off every one of its paws. This 

 statement, curious as it may seem, was corroborated by several experi- 

 enced hunters. 



It has already been mentioned that the Hyasna is in no wise fastidious 

 in its diet, and that it will habitually consume the most indigestible of 

 substances. Yet there seems to be something capricious about the func- 

 tion of assimilating food, which is subject to remarkable fluctuations. 

 To one of these animals, after a fast of thirty-six hours, a dead rat was 

 given, which, as might be expected, it immediately swallowed. In fifteen 

 minutes the creature rejected the skin and bones of the rat, though the 

 same animal would have eaten with impunity the heavy bones or tough 

 hide of a veteran ox, or even would have made a satisfactory meal on a 

 few yards of leathern strap. 



But enough respecting these repulsive creatures — these hideous carj-^ 

 catures of the nobler Canidas. 



