NATURAL HISTORY. 103 



1 Out, out, hyen<i; these thy wonted arts, 

 And arts of every woman "false like thee; 

 To break ail faith, all vows, deceive, betray, 

 Then as repentant to submit." MILTON. 



Why are hyenas denominated " scavengers f ' 



Because they are so voracious 

 that they will feed upon putrefy- 

 ing substances. They therefore 

 clear away putrid carcases which 

 in a hot climate would produce 

 dangerous consequences to man- 

 kind. 



317. As earrioa feeders, they seem des- 

 tined to fill up an important station in the 

 economy of nature, by clearing the earth 

 of the decaying earcases of beasts, whose 

 remains might otherwise infect the air with pestilential effluvia. Their numbers is 

 commensurate to the importance of their office ; although solitary animals in 

 general, they will sometimes assemble in troops and follow the movements of aa 

 irmy, in order to feast on the bodies of those who perish on the battle-field. It is 

 .asserted, and is not at all impossible, that they tear newly-hurled bodies out 

 of tke graves. 



Mr. Bruce, tke Abyssinian traveller, thus speaks of them: u I do noA think 

 there is any one that has hitherto written of this animal who ever saw the thousandth 

 pa? t of them that I hare. Tkey were * plague in Abyssinia in every situation, botk 

 in the city and in tke field, and, I think, surpassed the sheep in number. Gondar 

 was full of them from tke time it turned dark till the dawn ef day, seeking the 

 different pieces of slaughtered carcases which this cruel and unclean people expose 

 in the streets without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals are Falasha 

 from the neighbouring mountains, transformed by magic, and come down to eat 

 human iesk in tke dark in safety." 



318. The spotted hyena is the most common species in the Cape of 

 Good Hope ; and although its presence requires caution on the part 

 of the shepherds in regard to their cattle, yet it is a very valuable 

 animal scavenger, as it is well known to come nightly to Cape 

 Town and clear away the offal, bones, &c^ which are thrown out 

 in large quantities ; and Spurrman says that the dogs are so well 

 accustomed to it that they feed side by side without molestation, 

 and the hyena is rarely known to da mischief when thus 

 satiated. 



