WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



hyena are covered with spots of a dark color varying 

 considerably in arrangement and distinctness, and the 

 older the animals grow the more uniform the coloring 

 becomes. One often finds mangy specimens. 



The behavior of the "fissi" of the Waswahili, "iwiti" 

 of the Wanyamwesi, "ol egodjine" of the Masai, and 

 "arvijet" of the Wandorobbo is different in various 

 localities and under other circumstances. In one place 

 it is shy and is satisfied with carrion and leavings, 

 in another it is daring and attacks and carries off ani- 

 mals and young children. I have lost in this way quite 

 a few asses, especially on dark, rainy nights. 



Up to 1899 it was a mooted question whether any 

 striped hyenas {Hyccna striata) existed in British and 

 German East Africa. Even Professor Matschie was of 

 the opinion that if there did exist a striped variety in 

 these parts it must be a new species, different from the 

 HycEna striata of the other parts of Africa. Oscar 

 Neumann, the well-known zoologist, who spent three 

 years in East Africa, believed that the spotted hyena 

 could be found there only. 



One evening, in the fall of 1896, while camping on 

 the shore of the natron lake between the Kilimanjaro 

 and the Victoria Nyanza, I baited a trap with a 

 heron. The next morning we found a striped hyena 

 caught in the iron. Alfred Kaiser, who had lived for 

 years near the Sinai mountain, immediately declared 

 that it was identical with the Arabian striped hyena. 



268 



