172 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Hyenas.— Sparrman [' Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope,' 

 4to, 1786] furnishes the following story :— " One night, at a feast 

 near the Cape, a trumpeter, who had got himself well filled with 

 liquor, was carried out of doors in order to cool and sober him. 

 The scent of him soon attracted a Spotted Hyena, which threw 

 him on his back and carried him away to Table Mountain, 

 thinking him a corpse, and consequently a fair prize. In the 

 meantime our drunken musician awoke, sufficiently sensible to 

 know the danger of his situation and to sound his alarm with his 

 trumpet, which he carried at his side. The beast, as it may be 

 imagined, was greatly frightened in its turn, and immediately 



ran away." 



jPoZ/.— A story is told of a Scotch bagpiper, who was travelling 

 in Ireland one evening, when he suddenly encountered a wolf that 

 seemed to be very ravenous. The poor man could think of no 

 other expedient to save his life than to open his wallet and try 

 the effect of hospitality. He did so, and the savage beast 

 swallowed all that was thrown to him with such voracity that it 

 seemed as if his appetite was not in the least degree satisfied. 

 The whole stock of provisions was, of course, soon spent, and 

 now the man's only resource was in the virtues of his bagpipe. 

 This the monster no sooner heard than he took to the mountains 

 with the same precipitation with which he had left them. The 

 poor piper did not wholly enjoy his deliverance, for, looking 

 ruefully at his empty wallet, he shook his fist at the departing 

 animal, saying, " Ay ! are these your tricks ? Had I known your 

 humour, you should have had your music before your supper." 

 The flight of the wolf before " the virtues " of a bagpipe may 

 be interpreted as evidence of highly aesthetic sound sense in the 



said animal.* 



Hippo2iota7ni.— r £he enterprising and lamented Clappertonf 



* This story, of which only the purport is here given, and not the original 

 words, is told, on the authority of Sir Thomas Fairfax, in a letter to Sir 

 James Crofts, Sept. Gth, 1624, in Howell's ' Familiar Letters.' There is no 

 mention of " mountains" in the letter ; the incident is said to have occurred 

 11 in a wood." — Ed. 



+ We presume that reference is here made to Capt. Clapperton, who 

 accompanied Major Denham and Dr. Oudnoy in an expedition to Northern 

 iu.d ('.Mitral Africa, in the years 1822, '23 and '21. The narrative of their 

 travels was published in 4to in 1820. — Ed, 



