HY.ilNA. 133 



Habits. Tlie hytena is most common in the drier parts of India, 

 and its chief haunts are rocky hills and deep raA-ines, I have on 

 several occasions turned hyanas out of grass or bushes, and Jerdon 

 notices ha\iug met with some in sugar-cane fields ; but as a rule 

 this animal remains in the daytime in caves amongst rocks, or in 

 holes, dug by itself, in the sides of hills or of ravines. 



It is a nocturnal animal, and although an occasional individual 

 may be met with returning to its den in the early morning, its 

 rambles are usually commenced after sunset and ended before sun- 

 rise. Duriug the night it roams far and wide, and no tracks of 

 wild animals are more common, in the countries where it is found, 

 than its unmistakable footprints, very like a dog's in shape, but 

 with the uiarks of the hind feet conspicuously smaller than those 

 of the fore feet. Unlike the spotted hyteua, the striped species 

 appears to be solitary in its habits, and it is rare to meet with more 

 than tW'O together. 



The principal food of the hyaena consists of the carcases of 

 animals that have died of disease or been killed by beasts of prey, 

 and very often it carries off portions of the body to, its den. I 

 once shot one that was carrying away the hind leg of a nilgai. 

 The powerful jaws and large teeth are admirably adapted for 

 crushing boiaes, which are consumed by hyamas, after the flesh has 

 been picked off by vultures and jackals. Occasionally sheep or 

 goats, and more often dogs, are carried off by hyaenas, and the latter 

 at all events are often taken alive to the animal's den. Jerdon 

 relates an instance in which a small dog belonging to an officer at 

 Dumoh was carried aw ay, but procured alive the next day from a 

 cave by some sepoys, who killed the hyaena. Fragments of bones 

 are often found around a h_ya?na's retreat, together with the peculiar 

 dung of the animal, which dries into hard white balls, known as 

 alba (/raxa, chiefly composed of t'rngmeuts of bone, and so in- 

 destructible that they have been found fossilized in caves that had 

 been tenanted by extinct forms of these animals. 



The hyaena is universally despised for its cowardice ; despite its 

 powerful teeth, it rarely attemps to defend itself. It is occasion- 

 ally ridden down and speared, but unless the ground is peculiarly 

 favourable for horses, it will give a good run before being killed, 

 not on account of its speed, for it is easily caught by a good horse, 

 but from the way it turns and doubles. As a rule, it shows no 

 fight when brought to bay. McMastei*, in his excellent Notes, 

 relates an instance in w hich a hyiena, after being slightly wounded 

 by a spear, was pursued by a game old Arab horse who had lost 

 his rider, and who attempted to seize the hyrona with his teeth and 

 to strike him with his fore foot, an attack that the hunted animal 

 only acknowledged by tucking its tail tightly between its legs. 



The cry of the striped hyaena is much less frequently heard than 

 that of the spotted species in the countries inhabited by each 

 respectively, nor are their calls the same, though there is some 

 similarity between them, and both are peculiarly loud and dis- 

 agreeable. 



