2 36 THE WILD DOGS OF AFRICA 



ferent to that of most of its relatives. The long-nosedness is partly, 

 however, only a matter of external appearance, for the skull, although 

 nothing- like as short as a cat's, is yet very far from being as long as 

 that of a dog or a civet, and it is still more cat-hke in the immense 

 v.'idth of he cheek-arches, and the great development of bony ridges 

 for the attachment of muscles. 



Like some other beasts of a similarly mean nature, the spotted 

 hvena, in particular, ])refers not to do its own killing, but likes better 

 to live as a sort of humjjle messmate on those better provided than 

 itself with the courage requisite to good hunters. When it does cater 

 for itself, instead of subsisting on the leavings of its betters, it always 

 makes its attack in a cowardly way, and trusts rather to stratagem 

 than to anv of tlic higher qualities of a sportsman. 



The Wild Dog. — A curious s])ecies belonging to this family is 

 the wild dog. These animals, while not large, their height l)eing under 

 two feet at the shoulder, are able to run down even the larger species 

 of antelope, giraffes, etc., by their untiring i)ersistence. They hunt in 

 large packs and when once on the trail of an animal rarely leave it 

 until the animal falls exhausted and unable to resist their vicious 

 attack. In form the wild dog is slight, and capable of great speed. 

 The general color is a sandy-bay or ochre-yellow, irregularly blotched 

 and brindled with black and variegated spots of exceedingly irregular 

 sha])e. The face, nose and nuizzle are black and the latter sharp 

 pointed. The tail bushy like that of a fox and divided about the 

 middle by a black ring, above which the color is sandy and below white. 

 The Aard Wolf .—This is a remarkable animal, and inhabits the 

 southern parts of .Africa, where its home is almost the same as that of 

 the brown variety of the hyena. Tt is an extremely interesting animal, 

 as it forms a connecting link between the civet family and the hyenas; 

 although more nearly allied to the latter than to the former, it is found 

 to be impossible to assign it to one of these groups in preference to 

 the other, and it is, in consequence, placed in a family by itself. It 

 has the sloping back of a hyena, owing to the fore legs being longer 

 than the hind legs; but its head is quite civet-like, the snout being long 

 and pointed, and altogether unlike a hyena's. Its size is that of a 

 full-grown fox, but it stands higher upon its legs, its ears are consid- 



