20S On the Mammalia of the 



rated by a baboon he was keeping, but which was after- 

 wards shot. 



The more inhabited parts of the Fish River country have 

 nearly been cleared of the Cape Wolf (Ilycena capensis), or 

 spotted hysena, but they still exist in that part about Commit- 

 tee's and Trumpeter's. As these animals are very destructive 

 to flocks, instead of hunting them for sport, the farmers have 

 got rid of them in a wholesale manner. Pieces of meat impreg- 

 nated with strychnine are deposited here and there over a cer- 

 tain property, and the wolf, if it partakes of any of them, is 

 generally found dead not further than 100 yards off. This 

 poison is so strong, that the flesh of the poisoned animal be- 

 comes itself poisonous, and will act nearly as powerfully as the 

 original bait, whatever animal partakes of it. Their large 

 dog-like spoor may sometimes be seen during wet weather, 

 when they are more daring than usual. They are sometimes 

 seen by travellers in the Trumpeter's Hill road, and have 

 proved such a source of obstruction to some people, as to 

 make them retrace their steps ; and on these occasions they 

 appear in troops. They do not generally act on the offen- 

 sive, but fight desperately when attacked. Their enormous 

 jaws and powerful strong teeth enable them to crush a 

 limb or break a very stout stick like a twig. An old boer 

 farmer near Fort Brown retains to this day numerous traces 

 of deep wounds inflicted on him, when, in his younger days, 

 he attacked and fought with a wolf that had entered his 

 sheep-kraal, and would not have escaped being worried on the 

 spot, unless assistance had arrived in time. These wolves 

 are sometimes caught in large wooden crate-like traps, 10 or 

 15 feet square, and formed of stout building timber. A bait 

 is affixed at the end opposite to a sliding door, which falls 

 down on the former being loosened. Almost incredible in- 

 stances are told of their power in crushing and breaking 

 sticks, bending pokers, &c, by their jaws. They live chiefly 

 in caverns and holes in the ground, such as old abandoned 

 antbear runs, but their paws are powerful enough to excavate 

 for dead carcases a considerable depth, and by many they 

 are said to burrow their own holes. 



The Jackal, or Cape Fox {Cams mesomelas), affords good 



