86 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



of the same description of carrion as the other species, 

 and also often attacks living animals. On the first occa- 

 sion when one was caught in the Game Reserve, young 

 goats had been persistently taken from a certain kraal 

 situated amongst the hills, and, the rocky ground showing 

 no tracks, it was believed that a leopard was the marauder. 

 Traps were set, and on the first night a large male Brown 

 Hyaena was secured at the goat kraal, this being, so far 

 as could be ascertained, the first time such an animal had 

 been heard of in the district. A month later a female was 

 caught in a deep ravine near the same place, and at 

 intervals of a year or two a few others were trapped 

 at lower elevations. The old natives who told me 

 they had known the animals in Gazaland said they often 

 took young goats and sheep, and sometimes even small 

 children, from the kraals at night, besides attacking 

 sleeping men and women after the manner of the Spotted 

 Hyaena. 



THE SPOTTED HYAENA. This is the biggest of the three 

 species. Its head and forequarters are very large and 

 massive, but it droops and slopes away behind to such 

 an extent that the two ends of the animal seem out of 

 proportion to each other, and its appearance when 

 moving is most ungainly. 



The general colour is ochrey yellow, dotted with large 

 circular dark spots. The head is darker than the body, 

 and is unspotted. There is a ruff of long hairs on the 

 neck, which is sometimes very pronounced in adult males. 

 The ears are short, broad, and rounded ; tail short with 

 a small tuft at the end. The length of a good male is 

 about seventy inches over all, and the height at the 

 shoulder about two and a half feet. The skins vary 

 a good deal in colour and type, even within the same 

 areas. For instance, a female which was killed on the 



