no AFRICAN NATURE NOTES CHAP. 



the broken pieces of bone had sloughed out. How 

 she had managed to eat anything but soft food I 

 cannot imagine, for what was left of her lower jaw, 

 being in two separate pieces, must have been use- 

 less for scrunching up bones. 



One moonlight night I wounded a large male 

 hysena, partially paralysing his hind-quarters, and 

 my pack of dogs at once ran up to and attacked 

 him. Several of these dogs were large, powerful 

 animals, and holding the hyaena by the ears, throat, 

 and neck, they certainly prevented him from using 

 his teeth to their discomfort, but they seemed quite 

 unable to pull him to the ground, and when I at last 

 drove them off, I could not see that they had hurt 

 him in any way, so I shot him. 



My friend Mr. Percy Reid once, when hunting 

 on the Chobi river, heard a great noise, a mixture 

 of howls and yells going on near his camp during 

 the night, and his Kafirs asserted that they could 

 distinguish the cries both of wild dogs and spotted 

 hyaenas. The next morning the weird sounds 

 were again heard, and appeared to be approaching 

 the camp, so Mr. Reid went out to see what was 

 going on. He had only walked a short distance 

 when he saw a very interesting sight. An old 

 hyaena was standing with its back to a large tree, 

 surrounded by a double circle of some twelve to 

 fifteen wild dogs. The inner circle of these, by 

 turn, flew in on the hyaena and tried to bite him, 

 falling back after they had done so, and fearing 

 apparently to come to close quarters. At the end 

 of some five or ten minutes the old hyaena, seizing 

 an opportunity, bolted for an adjacent tree, and, 

 standing with his back to this, again renewed the 

 fight. Both the hyaena and his assailants were so 

 intent on their own concerns that they paid no 

 heed whatever to my friend's approach, and he 

 walked up to within fifty yards of them and shot 



