14 
THE HYENA. 
ANECDOTE II. 
The Barbary Hyena, is said not to be so ferocious as 
the Hyenas of other countries. To know whether this 
was true or not, Mr. Bruce shut up with a Hyena of this 
kind, a goat, a kid, and a lamb, all day, and at evening 
he found them alive and unhurt. This experiment did 
not, however, show that the creature was not as fierce 
and cruel as other Hyenas ; it only showed that these 
animals do noteat in the day time, but only eat in the 
night; for when the same Hyena was confined at night 
with an ass, a fox and a goat, he killed them all before 
morning, eating such parts as he liked best. 
We cannot help thinking that the conduct of Mr. 
Bruce in thus confining these animals together, was both 
cruel and wicked. The Hyena, as well as other ani¬ 
mals of this kind, was undoubtedly designed by Provi¬ 
dence to take their prey in the manner they do. But for 
men to confine the harmless, or weaker animals, to be 
torn in pieces by the stronger and more ferocious, is cer¬ 
tainly both barbarous and unjust. Still we see people 
who think themselves kind and humane, doing the same 
thing in another way. The child who would think it a 
most dreadful piece of cruelty to have his favorite cat 
thrown into the den of the Hyena, will go and catch the 
poor little defenceless mouse, and throw it to his cat, 
without thinking it cruel. Now the truth is, that one of 
these acts is just as bad as the other. The only differ¬ 
ence is, the child has become attached to his cat, and 
feels for her sufferings, while not being attached to the 
mouse, he can see it devoured without feeling. 
ANECDOTE III. 
Dr. Sparman tells a curious story of a Hyena, which 
was told him at the Cape of Good Hope. One night the 
soldiers had a feast near the Cape, when one of them, 
who was the trumpeter, drank so much that he could not 
stand up. His companions not wanting him in thg room 
with them, carried him out of doors and laid him down 
by the side of the house, to get cool and sober. The 
trumpeter lay there, and went to sleep, when a. Hyena 
came along, and thinking him dead, began to carry him 
away, so as to make a meal of him, without being dis¬ 
turbed. It was some time before the man awoke, so as 
to know the danger of his situation. When he did so, 
he found himself on the back of the Hyena, who was 
making off towards the mountain with him, as fast as 
possible. Being honor-struck at finding himself in the 
power of the ferocious beast, his fear brought him to his 
senses, and seizing his trumpet, which hung about his 
neck, he sounded an alarm. The beast, thinking he had 
only a dead man, was as much frightened at the sound 
of the trumpet, as the man was at his situation, so that 
dropping his prey, they scampered away from each other 
as fast as possible. It is not probable that any other 
man, but a trumpeter, would have escaped so easily. 
ANECDOTE IV. 
The following instance, showing the enormous strength 
of this animal, is related by Mr. Bingley. 
The cage of a Hyena in the Tower of London, wanted 
something done to it, to make it safe, for it was feared the 
animal would get out. The Hyena being confined to 
another cage, a carpenter went in and nailed down a 
thick oak plank, with at least a dozen nails, each of which 
was longer than a person’s middle finger. This plank 
was about eight feet long, one end of it extending further 
than the carpenter intended, being longer than the other 
planks. The man having no proper tool with him to 
cut off this end, went to his shop for one. While he 
was gone, some people coming in to visit the animals, 
this Hyena was let into this part of his den. He had 
scarcely been there an instant, before he saw that he 
could get hold of this end of the plank with his teeth, 
and probably thinking to get out in this way, took hold 
of it, and before the carpenter returned, tore it completely 
np, drawing every nail. The force he must have ex¬ 
erted in doing this, was probably equal to that of five or 
six men. 
THE CAT TRIBE. 
The Cat tribe, of which the domestic Cat is a good ex¬ 
ample, is the most ferocious, and blood-thirsty of the 
quadruped races. They hunt for their prey chiefly in 
the night, and are exceedingly cunning in the means by 
which they entrap their victims; either dropping from a 
tree, lying in wait, or crawling under cover, until they 
can seize them at a single bound. They cannot, like 
the dog tribe, live on vegetable food, but must either 
starve, or possess themselves of animal flesh. Most of 
them climb trees, and have the remarkable faculty when 
thrown from a height, of alighting on their feet. The 
Lion, Tiger, Leopard, Cougar and many others belong 
to this tribe. 
THE LION. 
What kind of an animal is the Lion ? 
The Lion is an animal of the cat kind, and is the most 
noble of all that blood-thirsty tribe, both in looks and 
actions. 
How large is the Lion ? 
He does not differ much in size from the Royal Tiger, 
being from three and a half, to a little more than four 
feet high, and from six to nine feet long, without the tail. 
•V 
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