176 THE SCAVENGER HYENA. 



the body of a dead elephant which had been killed by a professional sportsman. 

 It is interesting to see them gulping down large pieces of flesh and big bones, 

 which they grind with their strong teeth, thus marvelously quickly disposing 

 of the biggest carcasses. 



The hyenas are too cowardly to attack men, but their unwelcome presence 

 can ahvays be counted upon wherever human beings fall victims tO' famine, 

 disease or war, yea they even dig up the corpses from the graves and devour 

 them, and their hideous growl is often heard as they prowl around the grave- 

 yard at night-time. They also frequently venture within the houses to carry 

 off meat and whatever they can seize — skins, pieces O'f leather, etc. — and still 

 oftener attack and kill asses, sheep, dogs and poultry. Once in a great while 

 it also happens that a child is carried off by a hyena and crushed between its 

 formidable jaws, with one bite of which it can crush the leg-bone of an ox to 

 splinters, crunching it as easily as if it were a stick of candy, and seem to 

 think no more of it than we should of a slice of bread and butter. 



Says a famous naturalist and traveler who has spent vears on the East 

 African hunting grounds : 



In all mv associations with hunters, travellers and naturalists, I have 

 never yet been able to find one who would defend the hyena, which by com- 

 mon consent is classed as the most skulking, cowardly, cruel and treacherous 

 of beasts. 



The hyena is remarkable for its predatory, ferocious, and withal cowardly 

 habits. There are several hyenas, the striped, the spotted, and the shaggy, 

 rough-coated, but the habits of all are very similar. The hyenas, although 

 very repulsive in appearance, are yet very useful, as they prowl in search of 

 dead animals, especially of the larger kinds, and will devour them even when 

 putrid, SO' that they act the same part among beasts that the vultures do 

 among birds, and are equally uninviting in aspect. They not unfrequently 

 dig up recently interred corpses, and in Abyssinia they even flock in numbers 

 into the village streets, where they prey on slaughtered men who are thrown 

 out unburied. One of these animals attacked the explorer Bruce in his tent, 

 and was only destroyed after a severe battle. Their jaws and teeth are ex- 

 ceedingly powerful, as they can crush the thigh-bone of an ox with appar- 

 ently little effort; and so great is the strain upon the bones by the exertions 

 of these muscles, that the vertebras of the neck become united together, and 

 the animal has a perpetual stiff neck in consequence. 



In Syria and Palestine the favorite haunts of the striped hyena are the 



