Novel Hyena Trap 
naturally drew the pegs that held the ox-hide 
to the ground, the result being that the poor 
brute had a collar securely fastened round his 
neck which he was quite unable to get rid of. 
He could not run or walk, and even had he 
been able to go any distance encumbered by 
such an obstacle, would have been brought up 
short in the first patch of bush or grass he 
encountered. He was now at the mercy of the 
individual who had set the trap, and could be 
put out of the way quite easily. 
A hyena can and does perform the office of 
scavenger in the countries that he frequents ; 
his jaws are so extraordinarily powerful that he 
cracks up and demolishes with the greatest ease 
the rib-bones of a horse, or other large animals, 
such as a lion will not even attempt to break up, 
and probably could not do so even were he 
to try. I once gave a caged hyena in Germany 
a shin-bone of a horse. He had been kept 
Short of food for a day in order that my experi- 
ment might get a fair trial. Now this bone is 
extremely thick and hard. I had been told that 
these brutes could break them up, and so I 
determined to see, and tested the matter for 
myself. On giving him the bone, which he held 
between his fore-paws, after some minutes’ hard 
work, he managed to get a large splinter off it, 
Some four inches in length, but unfortunately 
it became wedged across the roof of his mouth, 
83 
