THE WILD DOGS OF AFRICA 235 



body slopes from the front shoulders to the rear haunches. The claws 

 resemble those of the dog, in that they cannot be retracted in sheaths 

 of skin; here, therefore, we have a great and marked difference from 

 all the cat tribe. 



The hyenas, both the striped and spotted varieties, form part 

 of that large body of animals which act as scavengers, or, in other 

 words, which remove decaying animals and vegetable matter from the 

 face of the earth, and so prevent it from giving off evil vapors which 

 might be the cause of disease. These animals, in fact, perform in 

 the world just the same service as do the street cleaners in our towns 

 and villages, and form our first examples of the servants of nature 

 \\'hose w^ork is just the same as that of certain servants of our own. 



Now-, as there is so vast a quantity of refuse matter daily to be 

 carried away, nature has divided her scavengers into several classes, 

 to one of which is given the task of removing putrefying flesh, to 

 another that of disposing of decaying vegetable matter, and so on. 

 And the task of the hyenas is that of devouring the bones of animals 

 killed by the cats, which you will recollect I told you they do not eat 

 themselves, and also of those which may have died from other causes. 



As many of the animals which they devour are of very large 

 size, it is evident enough that the jaw's of the hyenas must be immensely 

 strong, in order to enal^le them to perform their work of breaking 

 bones and tearing flesh ; and no one who has ever seen a hyena engaged 

 in feeding can doubt for a moment that nature has taken care to fulfil 

 this requirement. With one bite of its powerful jaws it can crush the 

 leg-bone of an ox to splinters, crtmching it as easily as though it were 

 a stick of celery, and seem to think no more of it than we should of a 

 slice of bread and butter. 



As the hyena lives during the day-time in burrows which it 

 scoops out by means of its fore legs, these limbs are very powerful, 

 and the claws are large and strong. The whole strength of the animal, 

 indeed, seems to lie in the head, shoulders, and fore legs, the hinder 

 parts of the body being so small and fecl)le in comparison, that they 

 indeed scarcely seem to form part of the same creattire. 



The tail is Imshy, the snout long, but l)lunt, giving the beast a 

 snub-nosed appearance and a horribly vulgar expression, quite dif- 



