OF THE HYENA OF SOUTHERN AFE,1CA. 385 
voured by the hyena, and the bones left within a hundred 
yards of the inhabited buildings. In 1819, a dreadful 
drought devastated the country ; the pastures were parched 
up, and the cattle died in vast numbers of hunger and 
thirst : now the carcases lay within a few yards of the 
farm-houses, and were there devoured by hyenas; but 
never, so far as I know, were they carried off. The ani- 
mals which carry off their prey are the lion and panther, 
but not the hyena or wild dog. I have, moreover, re- 
marked, that the young of these animals follow them early 
into the field, so that I much question if they ever carry 
a portion of their prey, on any occasion wh^itever, to their 
dens. I may finally observe, that I have often roused the 
hyena from his lurking place ; but, assuredly, these places 
bore no resemblance to charnel-houses. 
I entertain no hopes that this brief notice shall in any way 
induce Professor Buckland and his supporters to change 
their theory, which, after all, is perhaps the best hitherto of- 
fered. It may be said that antediluvian British hyenas may 
have differed much in their habits from the postdiluvian 
ones of southern Africa. Moreover, the animal called a 
Hyena, and v/hose bones exist in such abundance in the 
Gave of Kirkdale, is allowed to have been much larger than 
the African one ; it may fairly be asked. Was it a hyena ? 
The tiger-bones, also found there, are supposed to have 
belonged to a variety larger than the Bengal or royal tiger ; 
and the bear is described as being as large as a horse. 
Now, the fair inference from all this is, that these bones 
may possibly be the remains of hyenas, bears, and tigers j 
but that it is just as probable that they are not. 
Edinburgh, 
December 10. 1822. 
