80 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
the extremity it is nearly white, as are also the fore 
parts of the legs below the joint. ‘These colours and 
markings are subject to variation in different indivi- 
duals; but in their general disposition and appearance 
they constantly exhibit the greatest similarity. 
The Hyzna-Dog, if this compound term may be 
allowed, is a native of the South of Africa, and infests the 
frontier settlements at no great distance from the Cape 
to a very extensive and troublesome degree. Mr. Bur- 
chell, to whom we are indebted for the earliest specimen 
brought to this country, as well as for first pointing out 
its distinctive characters, informs us that it hunts in 
regular packs, preferring the night, but frequently pur- 
suing its prey even by day. It is not only exceedingly 
fierce, but also remarkably swift and active, insomuch 
that none but the fleeter animals can escape from its 
pursuit. Sheep, oxen, and horses appear to be its 
favourite game: on the former it makes its onset openly 
and without fear, but of the latter it seems to stand in 
awe, and attacks them only by stealth, frequently sur- 
prising them in their sleep, biting off the tails of the 
oxen, for which it has a particular fancy, and inflicting 
such serious injuries upon the horses, especially the 
young colts, as they rarely survive. 
The individual brought home by Mr. Burchell was 
kept by that gentleman chained up in his stable-yard 
for more than a year; at the expiration of which its 
ferocity continued unabated; the man who fed it being 
so fearful of it that he “ dared never to venture his hand 
upon it.” It is nevertheless highly probable that with 
a somewhat firmer and bolder treatment it might have 
been in some degree tamed, if not domesticated ; for it 
