CHAPTER XIL 



THE PECCARIES. 



THE SWINE FAMILY — GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS — THE PECCARIES — THE COLLARED PECCARY — ITS 

 COURAGE AND FIERCENESS — THE WHITE-LIPPED PECCARY — ITS HABITS — METHODS OF HUNTING 

 THE PECCARY — FLESH OF THE PECCARY. 



THE family SuiD.« comprisesTfzr genera, the best known of which 

 is that embracing our common domestic Hog. Gray, after a 

 careful study of all the specimens in the British Museum, has 

 thought himself justified in forming the family into three sub-families, — 

 SuiNA or Swine, DicOTYLlXA or Peccaries, and the Phacoch.erixa or 

 ^;Vart-hogs ; but these groups approach so closely to each other that they 

 cannot be regarded as really forming sub-families. 



The members of this family, when compared with the heavy, un- 

 wieldly creatures we have just described, may be regarded as gracefully 

 formed. The head is conical with a truncated snout, which, although 

 possessed of considerable mobility, is used only for the purpose of root- 

 ing in the ground, and distinguishing by its tactile powers the substances 

 which are suitable for food. They have on all their feet two large middle 

 toes, armed with strong hoofs, while the lateral toes are too short to 

 touch the ground. The canine teeth bend upward so as to form project- 

 ing tusks, which in some species attain an extraordinary development. 



The SuiD.-E are found in all parts of the globe except New Holland. 

 Large woodland swamps, where the bush is thick and the grass high, are 

 their favorite haunts ; thev love the neighborhood of water, and are fond 

 of rolling in the mud. Most of them are gregarious animals, nocturnal 

 in their habits, and much more active than they seem ; their walk is 

 pretty quick, their gallop a succession of leaps, each accompanied by a 

 grunt. They all are excellent swimmers, and will cross the sea from one 

 island to another. Their senses of smell and hearing are excellent, but 

 the eye is small and the sight is far from sharp. As a rule they fly from 



