PECULIARITIES OF THE HYRAX 127 



To contain this strange genus and its twelve or fourteen 

 species, a whole mammalian Order had to be created. The 

 exact number of species that should be recognized is unknown, 

 but at all events there are as many as twelve. For the two 

 species that live in trees, another genus (Dendrohyrax) had to 

 be created. The Hy raxes inhabit eastern Africa all the way 



CAPE HYRAX. 



Photographed from life. In the New York Zoological Park. 



from Cape Colony to Abyssinia and beyond, and one species 

 is found in Syria. Westward the genus extends across Central 

 Africa to the island of Fernando Po. In elevation they range 

 from sea-level up to mountain-tops eleven thousand feet high. 

 In mountainous districts their haunts and habits are in gen- 

 eral terms like those of the pika of the Rockies (Ochotonys). 

 To escape their very numerous enemies they hide in rocky 

 burrows, preferably in slide-rock; and they feed in the early 

 morning or at night. Their food consists of roots, grass, leaves 



