Teacher's Leaflet. 1213 



ment of upper tushes as do the males. The tushes, especially the upper ones, 

 are used as weapons. With them the wild boar slashes out and upward, inflicting 

 a terrible wound, often disabling horses and killing men. Professor H. F. Button 

 describes the fighting of hogs thus: " To oppose the terrible weapons of his rival 

 the boar has a shield of skin over his neck and shoulders, which may become two 

 inches thick, and so hard as to defy a knife. When two of these animals fight 

 each tries to keep the tushes of his opponent against the shield and to get his 

 own tushes under the belly or flank of the other. Thus each goes sidewise or in 

 circles, which has given rise to the expression ' to go sidewise like a hog to war.' " 



When as a small girl the editor essayed the difficult task of working button- 

 holes, she was told if she did not set her stitches more closely together the button- 

 hole would look like a pig's eye, a remark which made her observant of that organ 

 ever after; and the sparse lashes and the slit -like opening of the pig's eye makes 

 the comparison pertinent. But though the pig's eyes are small they certainly 

 gleam with intelligence, and they take in all that is going on that may in any 

 way aff'ect him. 



The pig is the most intelligent of all the farm animals if it is only given a chance; 

 it has excellent memory and can be taught tricks readily; it is affectionate and 

 will follow its master around like a dog. Any one who has seen a trained pig 

 at a show picking out cards and counting must grant that it has brains, although 

 we gorge it so with fattening food that it does not have a chance to use its brain, 

 except now and then when it breaks out of the sty and we try to drive it back. 

 Then we grant the pig all the sagacity usually imputed to the one who once pos- 

 sessed swine and drove them into the sea. Hunters of wild hogs declare that 

 they are full of strategy and cunning. We pay tribute to the pig's cleverness when 

 it is free to outwit us, when we say of other vmcertain vmdertakings that they are 

 like " buying a pig in a poke." 



The head of the wild hog is wedge-shaped with a pointed snout, a form that 

 enables the animal to push into the thick underbrush along the river banks when 

 it is attacked. Civilization has changed this bold profile of the head, so 

 that now in many breeds there is a hollow between the snout and eyes, giving 

 the form which we call " dished." Some breeds have sharp, forward-opening 

 ears, while others have ears that lop. The wild pig of Europe and Asia has large, 

 open ears extending out wide and alert on each side of the head. 



The covering of the pig is a thick skin beset with bristling hairs; when the hog 

 is excited the bristles rise and add to the fury of its appearance. The bristles 

 aid in protecting the animal when it is pushing through thorny thickets. The 

 pig's "curly" tail is largely an ornament, although it may be used in a limited 

 fashion as a fly brush. 



When the pig is allowed to roam in the woods it lives on roots, nuts, and espe- 

 cially acorns and beechnuts; in the autumn it gets very fat upon the latter. The 

 beechnut bacon of the semi-wild hogs of the Southern States is considered the 

 best of all. But almost anything animal or vegetable that comes in its way is 

 eaten by the hog, and it has done good service on our frontier as a destroyer of 

 rattlesnakes. The pig is well fitted for locomotion on either wet or dry soil, for 

 the two large hoofed toes enable it to walk well on dry ground and the two hind 

 toes, smaller and higher up, help to sustain it on marshy soil. Although the 

 pig's legs are short it is a swift runner unless it is too fat. The razor-backs of the 

 South are noted for their fleetness. 



