inhabiting the South of Africa. 46? 



extremity of his habitation to the other without resting*. He 

 alwaj's appeared to relish meat in which the blood remained, 

 more than that from which it had escaped ; and he invariably 

 betrayed a great anxiety to destroy whatever animals came near 

 him. On occasions when he succeeded in eftecting this, he 

 regularly lay down upon his victim and rolled over and over it, 

 after which he carefully licked up such blood as might be upon 

 it, or upon the ground on which it lay. 



x'Vfter a continuance of such gambols for about half or three- 

 quarters of an hour, he usually proceeded to consume his prey ; 

 and then, as well as at other times, when he had more than he 

 could at once devour, he generally concealed it in some hole or 

 corner, and there let it remain till hunger urged him to make 

 another meal. He always evinced a great liking to bones, and 

 often would seize upon them in preference to flesh, and employ 

 his teeth for hours together in breaking them in pieces, and his 

 tongue in collecting the marrow and soft parts from the frac- 

 tured portions. Such employment he appeared to pursue partly 

 as a pastime and partly as a means of gratifying his palate, which 

 the species under consideration, as well as the Crocuta, is known 

 to practise in his wild retreat, or place of concealment. 



While one day employed in secretly observing the habits of 

 this animal, I noticed an upright beam, which stood in one corner 

 of the building in which he was confined, besmeared towards its 

 middle with a dirty white-looking matter resembling impure 

 candle-grease. On continuing to survey it, I saw the IIya?na 

 approach the spot and lick off a portion with his tongue, which 

 proceeding he repeated several times in close succession, till 

 almost all of it had disappeared. Leaving him when scarcely 



* I have often observed hawks, when in a state of confinement, do the same, which 



was probably to make up for the want of their natural exercise, so requisite for proper 



digestion. 



any 



