The Hyena is an African carnivore, of the family Hyaenidae. It has a large head and neck, long, well-developed forelegs, and powerful jaws and premolars adapted for crushing bones. Each foot has four toes with non-retractable claws, well suited for running on the open plains where hyenas feed on hoofed animals. Of the three hyena species, the best known is the spotted, or laughing, hyena (Crocuta crocuta) , the only member of its genus. Ranging south of the Sahara, it is the largest and most robust of the hyenas, with a length of 1.8 m and a height of 90 centimetres at the shoulder. Adults are brown-grey with dark brown or black spots. Named for their cry, which has been compared to hysterical human laughter, they also emit a striking howl that rises in pitch. Spotted hyenas were long thought to be only scavengers (warring African tribes abandoned their dead to the animal). Recently, hyenas have been found to be among the chief predators of herbivores, especially zebra and wildebeest.
The hyenas attack in packs at night, ripping open the flanks of their prey and carrying off the carcasses. Hyenas associate in clans cantered around communal dens occupied by batches of young at varying stages of growth. Females conceive throughout the year, giving birth after 110 days to one or two cubs, which dig their own tunnels. Pair bonding is not evident; the female, larger than the male, selects her mating partners. The female sexual organs have an external resemblance to the male's, a phenomenon probably related to scent identification, which plays a large part when clan members encounter one another.
A clan may consist of ten or twelve females, twenty cubs, and a number of males on the fringe; hyenas are very territorial. Little is known about the genus Hyaena , which comprises the striped hyena, Hyaena Hyaena , and the brown hyena, Hyena brunnea. Both bear manes of coarse, erectile hair and are smaller and far less aggressive than the spotted hyena. The striped hyena, grey-tan with vertical stripes, ranges from East Africa north into Asia. It is largely a scavenger, often eating vulture-picked bones. The brown hyena, found in southern Africa, is dark brown with a grey head and striped legs. It feeds mainly on fish and crabs. Research Hyena
The Afridis are a tribe or clan on the north-west frontier of India, about the Khyber Pass, who have at various times in history given trouble to the British when India was occupied as part of the British Empire. In 1897-98 a campaign (known as the 'the Tirah campaign') had to be undertaken against them, costly both in men and money before British authority was asserted. In 1905 the Afridis of the force called the Khyber Rifles formed an escort for the Prince and Princess of Wales on their visit to the famous pass, which was then entrusted to their charge. Research Afridis
Clan-na-Gael was an Irish-American secret society based in Chicago which played a prominent part in the home rule agitation of the 1880s. Research Clan-na-Gael
A Clan (Gaelic for a tribe or family), among the Highlanders of Scotland, consisted of the common descendants of the same progenitor, under the patriarchal control of a chief, who represented the common ancestor. The name of the clan was frequently formed of that of the original progenitor with the affix mac (son): thus the MacDonalds were the sons of Donald, and every individual of this name was considered a descendant of the founder of the clan, and a brother of every one of its members. The chief exercised his authority by right of primogeniture, as the father of his clan: the clansmen revered and served the chief with the blind devotion of children.
The clans each occupied a certain portion of the country, and hostilities with neighbouring clans were extremely common. Next in rank to the chief were a certain number of persons, commonly near relations of the chief, to whom portions of land were assigned, during pleasure or on short leases. Each of these usually had a subdivision of the clan under him, of which he was chieftain, subject, however, to the general head of the sept. The jurisdiction of the chiefs was not very accurately defined, and it was necessary to consult, in some measure, the opinions of the most influential clansmen and the general wishes of the whole body. It was latterly the policy of the government in Scotland to oblige the clans to find a representative of rank to become security at court for their good behaviour; the clans who could not procure a suitable representative, or who were unwilling to do so, were called broken clans, and existed in a sort of outlawry
The most notable instance of a proscribed and persecuted clan was that of the ancient clan MacGregor, who long continued to hold their lands by the coir a glaive, or right of the sword. The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 induced the British government to break up the connection which subsisted between the chiefs and the clansmen. The hereditary jurisdiction of the chiefs was therefore abolished, the people disarmed, and even compelled to relinquish their national dress. Few traces of this institution now remain, except such as have a merely sentimental character; thus all those who possess the same clan name may still talk of their 'chief,' though the latter have now neither land nor influence. Research Clan
A crofter is a peasant farmer of the Highlands of Scotland. They share certain rights of common pasture while owning arable land individually. Their rights cam be traced back to an early clan system. Crofters rent a few acres of land, with sometimes the right of grazing their cattle in common on a piece of rough pasture. Crofters were formerly numerous in the Highlands and in the Western Islands of Scotland, as well as in some other localities. From many districts they were removed owing to their holdings being absorbed in sheep farms or deer forests, and they were later mainly congregated on the sea-shore, where they partly maintained themselves by fishing. From the depression in agriculture and other causes the condition of the crofters became very precarious at the end of the 19th century, and efforts were made by philanthropists as well as by the legislature to relieve them. The Crofters' Act, passed in 1886, provided for security of tenure, the fixing of a reasonable rent, compensation for improvements, enlargement of buildings, etc. A crofter was defined by the Crofters' Act as, a yearly tenant, at a rent not above 30 pounds, of a holding situated in a 'crofting parish'. Commissioners appointed under this and subsequent acts spent several years going over the various crofting districts, and granted great reductions of rent besides cancelling large proportions of arrears. Research Crofter
In Roman history, a gens was a clan or stock embracing several families united together by a common name and certain religious rites; as, the Fabian gens, all having Pabius as part of their personal name; the Julian gens, all named Julius; the Cornelian gens, etc. Research Gens
Thomas Faed was a Scottish painter. He was born in 1826 at Kirkcudbrightshire and died in 1900. The younger brother of John Faed, he studied in Edinburgh, where at an early age he became known as a clever painter of rustic subjects. In 1852 he settled in London, where he won a high reputation. The subjects he has painted are for the most part domestic or pathetic, and in these he has contrived and told his own story, and that with a success that emulates Wilkie. Among his principal works are: Sir Walter Scott and his Friends (1849), The Mitherless Bairn (1855), The First Break in the Family (1857), Sunday in the Backwoods (1859),'His Only Pair (1860), From Dawn to Sunset (1861), The Last o' the Clan (1865). A number of Thomas Faed's works have been engraved in large size, and were very popular. Research Thomas Faed
The Massacre of Glencoe took place in 1692. The Master of Stair, William III's chief minister in Scotland, took the accidental late submission of the clan of Glencoe as an opportunity to teach the Highlanders a lesson. He requested of the king permission to exterminate the clan on the grounds that they had in the past been guilty of acts of brigandage and murder, and upon receiving assent, he sent to Glencoe a party of 120 soldiers whom on the 1st of February, commanded by CaptainCampbell of Glenlyon, marched up the glen and arrived pretending to be friends with the clan. They proceeded to live with the clansmen, dining with them, joking with them and playing cards with them until the morning of February the 13th 1692 when, whilst it was still dark, the soldiers surrounded the clansmen's huts and dragging them from their beds murdered them, firing at those who fled - thirty-eight men were murdered at the scene and many more died in the snow, drowned in the bogs or starved fleeing. The incident caused a scandal and resulted in the dismissal of the Master of Stair, and the first public sympathy for the Highlanders from the lowland Scottish. Research Massacre of Glencoe
Tanistry was an ancient form of land tenure and succession prevalent among the Celtic peoples. The tanist was a holder of lands or honours for his life only, his successor being chosen by the adult males of the tribe or clan from among his blood relatives, generally before his death. Tanistry was declared illegal in 1604. Research Tanistry
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Hyena
