Knowledge of natural history, revfrom Reason why: natural history, giving reasons for hundreds of interesting facts in connection with zoology; and throwing light upon the peculiar habits and instincts of the various orders of the animal kingdom . surate to the importance of their office; althoughsolitary animals in general, they will sometimes assemble in troops andfollow the movements of an army, in order to feast on the bodies ofthose who perish on the battle-field. It is asserted, and is not at allimpossible, that they tear newly-buried bodies out of the graves. Mr. Bruce, the Abyssinian t
Knowledge of natural history, revfrom Reason why: natural history, giving reasons for hundreds of interesting facts in connection with zoology; and throwing light upon the peculiar habits and instincts of the various orders of the animal kingdom . surate to the importance of their office; althoughsolitary animals in general, they will sometimes assemble in troops andfollow the movements of an army, in order to feast on the bodies ofthose who perish on the battle-field. It is asserted, and is not at allimpossible, that they tear newly-buried bodies out of the graves. Mr. Bruce, the Abyssinian traveler, thus speaks of them:—I donot think there is any one that has hitherto written of this animal whoever saw the thousandth part of them that I have. They were a plaguein Abyssinia in every situation, both in the city and in the field, and,I think, surpassed the sheep in number. Gondar was full of them fromthe time it turned dark till the dawn of day, seeking the different piecesof slaughtered carcases which this cruel and unclean people expose inthe streets without burial, and who firmly believe that these animals areFalasha from the neighboring mountains, transformed by magic, and comedown to eat human flesh in the dark in 318. The spotted hyena is the most common speciesin the Cape of Good Hope; and although its presencerequires caution on the part of the shepherds in regardto their cattle, yet it is a very valuable animal scavenger,as it is well known to come nightly to Cape Town andclear away the offal, bones, etc., which are thrown out inlarge quantities; and Spurrman says that the dogs areso well accustomed to it that they feed side by side withoutmolestation, and the hyena is rarely known to do mischiefwhen thus satiated.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1916
