THE HYENAS. 109 



would not quit its hold until they had slashed it about its head 

 with knives. Even then it released one arm only to grip the 

 other ; but they at last overpowered it and killed it. The woman 

 died. The hyaena was a female, and most likely had cubs not far 

 off J which might account for the unusual ferocity of this ordinarily 

 cowardly animal." 



In the Indian Grovernment returns hyaenas are reported to have 

 killed, during the seven years ending 1881, 221 people, a smaller 

 number than any other animal, except the elephant. Bengal and 

 the North-West Provinces with Oudh seem to harbour the largest 

 number of ferocious hyaenas. The cattle killed during the same 

 period numbered 14,711 head, while the number of hygenas de- 

 stroyed totals 11,768, for which the Government paid in rewards 

 2,038L 8s. 



The partiality hyenas have for stealing around and haunting 

 ruins is noticeable in both the animals of Africa and Asia. 

 Travellers who have visited the remains of those ancient temples 

 and palaces of India which tell of the bygone power of the Mogul 

 rulers frequently speak of the fright they received by suddenly 

 encountering one of these animals prowling about with stealthy 

 tread, or by the weird sounds of their howls being echoed amoag 

 the decaying walls of the moonht ruin. 



The crumbling cities on the northern coast of Africa explored 

 by Captain Beechey, which once were the abodes of wealth and 

 splendour when the Ptolemies and Osesars were the rulers of the 

 land, and exhibited the ostentatious magnificence of that bygone 

 age, are now but the abodes of desolation and gloom, the residence 

 of the jackal and the hyaena, who slake their thirst on the water 

 collected in the basins of the crumbhng fountains, and break the 

 oppressive stillness by their dismal laugh that, reverberating, 

 startles into life the owls and the bats. 



The spotted hyaena (Hycena crocuta), although possessing a 

 generic resemblance to the striped hyaena, both anatomically and 

 in size, is nevertheless specifically distinct. It is confined in its 

 habitat to Southern Africa, where it takes the place of the striped 

 animal, and is called the tiger-wolf by the colonists. It is this 

 8 " Eeminiscences of Sport in India," 1885. 



