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six young ones. The mother suckles them for some weeks; but soon teaches them to eat flesh, which she prepares by tearing it into small. pieces. She then brings them Field-mice, Hares, Partridges, and Fowls, which they at first play with, and then kill. About six weeks after their birth the young-ones leave their den, and follow the mother,

who leads them abroad to some neighboring pool to drink; she conducts them back again, or, when danger is apprehended, obliges them to conceal themselves elsewhere. When they are attacked, she defends them with intrepidity; losing, in this case, every sense of danger, and becoming perfectly furious until they are again in safety.

Of the Wolf there is nothing valuable but his skin, which makes a warm and durable fur. His flesh is so bad, that it is rejected with abhorrence by all other quadrupeds. The smell of his breath is excessively offensive; since, to appease hunger, he swallows, almost inliscriminately, every thing he can find: corrupted flesh, bones, hair, and skins half tanned, and even covered with lime. In short, the Wolf is in an extreme degree disgusting: his aspect is savage, his voice dreadful, his stench insupportable, his disposition perverse, and his manners brutal and ferocious.

THE STRIPED HYENA.

The Striped Hyena is about the size of a large Dog, of a pale greyish-brown color, and marked across with several distinct blackish bands. The hair of its neck is erect, and is continued in a bristly mane along the back The tail is short and very bushy. The head

is broad and flat, and the eyes have an expression of great wildness and ferocity.

THE STRIPED HYENA.

The ancients entertained many absurd and unac. countable notions respecting this animal. They believed that its neck consisted of but one bone, which was without a joint; that it every year changed its sex that it could imitate the human voice; and that it had thus the power of charming the shepherds,

and riveting them to the place on which they stood.

Hyenas, which are natives of Asiatic Turkey, Syria, Persia, and many parts of Africa, generally inhabit caverns and rocky places; prowling about in the night to feed on the remains of dead animals, or on whatever living prey they can seize. They violate the repositories of the dead, and greedily devour the putrid bodies. They likewise prey on cattle, and frequently commit great devastation among the flocks; yet, when other provisions fail, they are able to subsist on the roots of plants, and on the tender shoots of the palm-trees. They sometimes assemble in troops, and follow the march of an army, in order to feast on the dead bodies of the slain.

The cry of the Hyena is very peculiar. It begins with somewhat like the moaning of the human voice, and ends in a noise like that of a person making a violent effort to vomit. His courage is said to equal his rapacity. He will occasionally act on the defensive, and with great obstinacy, against much larger animals than himself. Kæmpfer relates, that he saw a Hyena which had put to flight two Lions; and that he had frequently known a Hyena to attack the Ounce and the Panther. There is something in the aspect of this animal that indicates a peculiar gloominess and malignity of disposition; and its manners correspond with its appearance. Instances have, however, occurred of the Hyena being tamed. Mr. Pennant says, that he saw a Hyena as tame as a Dog; and M. de Buffon, that there was one exhibited at Paris that had been tamed very early, and was apparently divested of all its natural ferocity. In Barbary, Mr. Bruce assures us that he has seen the Moors, in the day-time, take these animals by the ears and haul them along, without their offering any other resistance than that of drawing back.

Mr. Bruce locked up a Goat, a Kid, and a Lamb, all day with a Barbary Hyena, when it was fasting, and in the evening he found each of the animals alive and unhurt; but, on repeating an experiment of this

THE STRIPED HYENA.

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kind at night, the Hyena ate up a young Ass, a Goat, and a Fox, all before morning. In Barbary, the Hyenas seem to lose their courage, and to fly from man by day; but in Abyssinia, they often prowl about even in the open day, and attack with savage fury every animal they meet with. "These creatures," says Mr. Bruce, "were a general scourge to Abys sinia, in every situation, both of the city and the field; and they seemed to surpass even the sheep in number. From evening till the dawn of day, the town of Gondar was full of them. Here they sought the dif ferent pieces of slaughtered carcasses which this cruel and unclean people were accustomed to expose in the streets without burial. Many a time in the night, when the king had kept me late in the palace, on going across the square from the king's house, I have been apprehensive lest they should bite me in the leg. They grunted in great numbers around me, although I was surrounded with several armed men, who seldom passed a night without wounding or slaughtering some of them. One night in Maitsha, being very intent on an observation, I heard something pass behind me towards the bed; but on looking round, could perceive nothing. Having finished what I was then about, I went out of my tent, resolving directly to return; this I immediately did, and in so doing perceived two large blue eyes glaring at me in the dark. I called my servant to bring a light; and we found a Hyena standing near the head of the bed, with two or three large bunches of candles in his mouth. To have fired at him, would have been at the risk of breaking my quadrant or other furni ture; and he seemed, by keeping the candles steadily in his mouth, to wish at that time for no other prey. As his mouth was full, and he had no claws to tear with, I was not afraid of him; and with a pike, stuck him as near the heart as I could. It was not until I had done this that he showed any sign of fierceness; but upon feeling his wound, he dropped the candles, and endeavored to run up the shaft of the spear to arrive at me, so that I was obliged to draw a pistol from my girdle and shoot him; and nearly at the same time my ser vant cleft his skull with a battle-axe. In a word the Hyenas were the plague of our lives, the terror of our night-walks, and the destruction of our Mules and Asses, which above every thing else, are their favorite food."

At Dar-fur, a kingdom in the interior of Africa, the Hyenas come in herds of six, eight, and often more, into the villages at night, and carry off with them whatever they are able to seize. They will kill Dogs and Asses, even within the enclosures of the houses; and they always assemble wherever a dead Camel or other animal is thrown, and, on these occasions, acting in concert, they will drag it to a prodigious distance: nor are they greatly alarmed at the sight of men, or by the report of fire-arms. Mr. Brown was told, that whenever any one of these animals was wounded, its companions always tore it to pieces and devoured it.

A remarkable peculiarity in the Hyena is, that when he is first dislodged from cover, or obliged to run, he always, for a considerable distance, appears lame; and sometimes to such a degree as to induce the spectators to suppose that one of his hind legs is broken; but

after running some time this affection goes off, and he escapes swiftly

HYENA COUNTERFEITING LAMENESS.

away. The neck, likewise, is so stiff, that in looking behind, or in snatching obliquely at any object, he is obliged to move his whole body, somewhat in the manner of a hog.

The mode of hunting these animals in Barbary is somewhat extraordinary. A party of ten or twelve persons, accompanied by as many Dogs of various kinds, go to a cavern which they have previously ascertained to be the haunt of a Hyena. One of the party then strips himself naked, and taking in one hand the end of a rope, with a noose to it, he advances gradually into the cave, at the same time speaking gently and in an insinuating tone, pretending to fascinate the Hyena by words. When he reaches the animal, he strokes him down the back, which appears to soothe him. He then dexterously slips the noose round his neck, and, by pulling the rope, indicates, to those on the outside of the cave, and who hold the other end, that it is fixed. Having thrown a cloth over the eyes of the Hyena, he immediately retires behind, and the men pull the rope from without, whilst he urges the animal forward. When they have dragged him to the mouth of the cave, he is attacked and destroyed by the dogs. This is an operation which, if the rope break, is attended with danger to the man who enters the cave; but he is always furnished with a dagger or large knife, for the purpose of defending himself, in case of attack. There are other modes of hunting these stupid animals, particularly in the night, either by dogs or with guns. In the day time they never come out of their den, but sit at the further end of it, staring with their eyes fixed. Mr. Jackson, by whom this account is related, says that, in Barbary, the Hyenas are not very ferocious; that, not being afraid of man, they neither attack nor seek to avoid him. In the Southern Atlas, he states that he has seen them led about even by boys; a rope being fastened round the animal's neck, and on each side a communicating rope being attached to it, three or four yards long, and held by a boy.

Hyenas are to be seen in most of the exhibitions of wild beasts in Great Britain. In confinement they become excessively savage and ferocious. Their jaws are much stronger than those of the generality of their tribe. Some years ago there was one at Exeter 'Change about six months old, so very tame that he was occasionally suffered to come out of his den, and run about the exhibition-room. This animal would allow even strangers to approach and pat him, without exhibiting any symptoms whatever of displeasure; and he seemed fond of playing with any of the dogs that happened to come into the room. Still, however, there was a considerable degree of sullenness and illnature in his disposition, which, with his age, appeared every day to increase. After having been at Exeter 'Change about two months, he was sold to Mr. Tennant of Pentonville, a dealer in animals. This person, with only a string fixed to the animal's collar, suffered him

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wice or thrice to go out with him into the fields. He was soon afterwards sold to the owner of a caravan, for the purpose of exhibition in the country. From the unusual confinement in this caravan, his disposition almost immediately became fierce, and he would no longer admit of the approach and caresses of the visitors. Indeed, he did not long survive this change of life, but gradually pined away till he died. The late Mr. John Hunter, the surgeon, had at Earl's Court, a Hyena, about eighteen months old, that was so tame as to admit strangers to approach and touch him. After Mr. Hunter's death, the animal was sold to a travelling exhibitor of animals. For a few months previously to his being carried into the country, he was lodged in the Tower. The keeper of the Tower informed me that he there continued tolerably gentle; so much so, as to allow a person who knew him to enter the den and handle him. When, however, he was confined in the caravan, he soon exhibited symptoms of ferocity equal to those of the most savage Hyenas; and he was at last killed by a tiger, the partition of whose den from his own he had torn down by the enormous strength of his jaws.

The Hyena, in confinement, is allowed about four pounds weight of food in the day; and he laps about three pints of water. The value of a full-grown Hyena for exhibition, is from ten to thirty pounds.

THE SPOTTED HYENA, OR TIGER-WOLF

The Spotted Hyena has a considerable resemblance to the former species; but is larger and the body is marked with numerous roundish black spots. The

face and upper part of the head are black; and along the neck extends an upright black mane. The groundcolor of the body is reddish brown. Natives of several parts of Africa, but particularly numerous at the Cape of Good Hope, these

animals are described to be in the greatest degree cruel, mischievous, and formidable. They have frequently been known to enter the huts of Hottentots in search of prey; and from these they sometimes carry off even children. A Spotted Hyena entered a Negro's house on the coast of Guinea, and laid hold of a girl; and, notwithstanding ber utmost resistance, he threw her on his back, holding her fast by one of the legs, and was making off with her, when the men, whom the screams of the girl had roused from sleep, came to her relief. The beast dropped her, and made his escape.