on the Habits of Hyaenas. 45 



concert, they sometimes drag even a dead camel to an enor- 

 mous distance." 



" 3dly, (says Dr Knox,) It is not improbable, that, in 

 thickly inhabited countries, the habits of the hyaena may be 

 much altered, as we find to be the case in all other wild ani- 

 mals. When much harassed, they become timid, and fly far 

 from the abodes of men. I should be glad to offer this ex- 

 planation in support of the supposed habits of the Kirkdale 

 hyaenas, but, unfortunately, the antediluvians had not discover- 

 ed Britain." 



I really do not see why Dr K. might not have adduced 

 this " in support of the Kirkdale hyaenas." No doubt their 

 habits are altered by their vicinity to the abodes of man ; 

 but how altered ? Surely not so as to induce them to congre- 

 gate in places whence there was no escape in case of attack ; 

 but, on the contrary, they would probably become more vigi- 

 lant, more wary, and would (as the Doctor intimates is the case 

 in the neighbourhood of the Cape) have recourse to lurking- 

 places sub dio. 



That, however, under certain circumstances, hyaenas do 

 frequent dens, is sufficiently clear from Busquebius and Brown, 

 as quoted above. See also " Bingley's Animal Biography" 

 for some curious facts. 



I come now to the fourth observation. " Hyaenas do not con- 

 gregate, they are solitary. Consequently, all that Mr Buckland 

 has said about a den qf'hycenas, is sirnplv the work of the ima- 

 gination heated by a false theory ;" and so it may be, for I can 

 assure Dr Knox, that the " den of hyaenas" is a phantom raised 

 purely by his own imagination. Professor Buckland nowhere 

 mentions any such thing as a " den qf'hycenas ; 'tis true, he 

 mentions the Kirkdale cave as one, which, " during a long 

 succession of years, was inhabited by hyaenas :" but he speaks 

 not of them in the aggregate. Upon what other hypothesis 

 can Dr Knox account for such an accumulation of the bones 

 of hyaenas ? What less objectionable theory can be found ? In 

 fact, I see nothing at all improbable in Dr Buckland's supposi- 

 tion ; for if we suppose the Kirkdale cave to have been occupied 

 only a thousand years during that period between the crea- 

 tion and the flood ; and again, which is possible, that one 



