Nov. Dec, 191 7. The Irish Naturalist. 173 



ON THE IRISH PIG. 



BY R. F. SCHARFF, B.SC, M.R.I. A. 

 PLATE VIII. 



The breed or breeds of pigs which we notice nowadays 

 in Ireland do not seem to call for any special comment. 

 They do not differ very materially from those found in 

 other countries. They are not active as a rule either 

 mentally nor physically, and they are aided as much as 

 possible by their masters in their efforts to accumulate 

 that quantity of fatty deposit which enhances their value 

 as a marketable commodity. And yet within the last 

 thirty years there existed in certain remote parts of Ireland 

 domestic sows which differed strangely from the ordinary 

 type of the present day. To me the latter appeared so 

 interesting and attractive that whenever I heard of one of 

 these abnormal specimens I endeavoured to obtain a 

 photograph. I have now quite a number of these photo- 

 graphs representing pigs formerly inhabiting Clare Island, 

 Achill Island, BalHna, and Rossmuck in Galwa}^ Even 

 County Wicklow furnished an example, though not nearly 

 so peculiar as those just alluded to. I am reproducing a 

 photograph of a group of three of these strange pigs taken 

 by Sir Arthur Ball on Clare Island in County Mayo about 

 twenty years ago (Plate VIII.) It will be noticed 

 that they are tall active-looking creatures with long heads 

 and bodies, prominent ears and of a greyish colour. At 

 present these links of past generations have probably all 

 been exterminated, for, although interesting from a 

 zoological and historical point of view, it seems that these 

 pigs were not considered fit to survive, as they yielded 

 only poor bacon. They were condemned by the Congested 

 Districts Board, who were as anxious to eliminate all traces 

 of their existence as I was to preserve them. 



We may ask why should this peculiar race of pig occur 

 only in the most inaccessible parts of Ireland ? Evidently 

 because it had long ago perished in the more up-to-date 

 districts of the country. And this view receives a confirma- 



