NATURAL HISTORY. 103 



Out, out, hyen&amp;lt;i; those thy wonted arts, 

 And arts of every woman false like thee ; 

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

 Then as repentant to submit.&quot; MILTOX. 



31&amp;lt;J. Wliy are hyenas denominated &quot; scavengers 



Because they are so voracious 

 tliat 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 carrion feeders, thep seem des- 

 ~* tined to fill up an important station in the 

 economy of nature, by clearing the earth 

 of the decaying carcases of beast*, whose 

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

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

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

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

 Asserted, and. is not at all impossible, that they tear newly-buried bodies oat 

 of tke graves, 



Mr. Bruce, tke Abyssinian traveller, tkus speaks of them: &quot;I do not think 

 there is any one that has hitherto written of this animal who ever saw tke tkousandtk 

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

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

 was full of them, from the 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 stteets without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals are Falasha 

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

 human fiesk in tke dark in safety.&quot; 



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 ia rarely known to do mischief when thus 

 satiated. 



