EVKN-TOED UNGULATES (aRTIODACTYLA) 203 



courage, dexterity, and bodily strength, for he is a 

 formidable animal when bronglit to bay, and will 

 assuredly, with one stroke of his powerful tusks, rip up 

 a dog, or tear open a horse^s flank, and a skilful use of 

 the boar spear is needed to protect the huntsman. 

 Indeed, killing a wild boar in the Middle Ages was 

 accounted an act of chivalry. William of Malmes- 

 bury * tells us that in the time of Edward the Con- 

 fessor a v^ery savage wild boar haunted the forest of 

 Bernwood in Buckinghamshire. This boar was 

 eventually killed b}^ Nigel, the King's huntsman, who 

 gave the head to his master. Edward the Confessor 

 rewarded Nigel for his prowess with a gift of a hyde 

 of arable land called Deerhyde, a wood called Hale- 

 wood, and the custody of Bernwood, and as his 

 charter he o;ave him a huntsman's horn. 



There is also a remarkable monument in Penrith 

 churchyard, which is said to have been erected to 

 Sir Owen Caesarius in recognition of his having 

 killed many savage wild boars in Inglewood Forest. 



Hunting the wild boar was the sport of kings ; 

 Henry T, Edward III (whose badge was a wild 

 boar), and Henry VIII especially delighted in it. 

 It is difficult to ascertain the exact date at which 

 wild swine became extinct in England, as a sowndert 

 of them was always kept until recently in an 

 enclosure in Windsor Great Park. 



The sport is still pursued in France and in Germany. 

 An interesting account of a wild boar hunt in 

 France was given in 'Country Life,' March 10th, 



* * Arclioeologia,' vol. i, p. 195. 



t "Sownder" is the technical term for a company of wild swine. 



