200 THE HYENA 



unprincipled character, or for the convicted ac- 

 cessary after the fact. There is no sort of denying 

 that the hyena is all these things and many more ; 

 but I must own that after many months, or it 

 may be years, spent in the midst of the unin- 

 teresting and unedifying life of East African coast 

 ports, one looks forward on returning to the wilds 

 to the first call at nightfall of this thieving prowler. 

 If one should be accompanied by a fellow-hunter, 

 a pleased nod is exchanged as the first siren-like 

 howl falls upon the ear, and with a smile of 

 satisfaction one or other ejaculates, " Good old 

 Fisi ! " ^ or words to that effect. The usual cry 

 of the spotted hyena — for he has at his command, 

 if he care to employ them, a weird and extensive 

 gamut of strange sounds — is so eerie, so mournful, 

 and yet so intensely reminiscent of the unfre- 

 quented African forest and plain, that few who 

 have once heard it there could be oblivious of 

 the pleasant sporting memories it must awaken. 



The presence of the hyena, although not an 

 invariable, is a fairly good indication of the 

 presence of game. Not that he kills it himself as 

 a rule, although at times, when pressed by hunger, 

 he will even go so far as that ; but on the whole 

 he prefers to let bolder animals provide the meal 

 for which he is quite willing to await his turn. 

 Still, in times of scarcity, there is little indeed 

 that comes amiss to the powerful jaws of the 

 spotted hyena. 



I do not know to what other animal, if any, 

 the hyena of Zambezia can be compared — he 



* A^ Bantu word signifying hyena. 



