This animal, which is the size of a large dog, belongs to Africa. It is
very ferocious, feeds on flesh, and prefers that which is in a state of
decay. It seems, with the vulture, to be a scavenger to remove masses
of putrid flesh, which, in these hot regions, would otherwise breed
infection and disease.
_Miscellaneous Anecdotes._--Bruce, in his "Travels in Africa," gives us
the following account of the hyena:--
"One night, being very busily engaged in my tent, I heard something
pass behind me towards the bed, but, upon looking round, could perceive
nothing. Having finished what I was about, I went out, resolving
directly to return, which I did. I now perceived a pair of large blue
eyes glaring at me in the dark. I called to my servant to bring a
light, and there stood a hyena, near the head of my bed, with two or
three large bunches of candles in his mouth. As his mouth was full, I
was not afraid of him; so, with my pike, I struck him as near the heart
as I could judge. It was not till then that he showed any signs of
fierceness; but, feeling his wound, he let the candles drop, and
endeavored to climb up the handle of the spear, to arrive at me; so
that, in self-defence, I was obliged to draw a pistol from my girdle,
and shoot him; nearly at the same time, my servant cleft his skull with
a battle-axe.
"The hyena appears to be senseless and stupid during the day. I have
locked up with him a goat, a kid, and a lamb, all day, when he was
fasting, and found them in the evening alive and unhurt. Repeating the
experiment one night, he ate up a young ass, a goat, and a fox, all
before morning, so as to leave nothing but some small fragments of the
ass's bones."
Sparman furnishes us with 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 Sable Mountain, thinking him a corpse,
and consequently a fair prize.
"In the mean time, 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."