390 SWINE GROUP 



occurrence of specimens measuring 3 5 or possibly even 38 inches at 

 the shoulder : one shot by the Vicomte weighed 275 lb. 



" In Algeria the wild boar," according to the same sportsman, " is 

 to be found in every place where forest or brushwood abounds. The 

 jungle is very thick, and these animals seldom leave it except at night. 

 Sometimes one may see them at early morning, or just before dark, in 

 the clearings or on the outskirts of the forest. They love the thickest 

 and the coolest places, and often wallow in the mud. In the daytime, 

 unless there be heavy rain, they lie up and seldom move. Often eight, 

 or even ten, young are born in a litter, nearly always in a dry place 

 near to water. They are striped at first ; but by the time they have 

 grown to 20 lb. weight they are brown, and when a weight of more 

 than 50 lb. is attained they turn black. The members of a litter keep 

 together until they are about a year-and-a-half old and weigh some 

 120 lb. apiece. An ordinary sounder of hog would comprise a 

 three-year-old boar of 140 to 160 lb. in weight, a sow of about 

 140 lb., and six or seven young pigs of about 40 or 50 lb. each. 

 When the young have attained a weight of about 100 lb. they often 

 herd together and quit the parents. 



" Boars over three years old often associate by themselves, and 

 visit the sounder only at rutting-time. If some of these big boars 

 happen to meet near a female, a tremendous fight takes place, as I 

 have more than once witnessed. When five or six years old, the hair 

 is often greyish or brownish in hue. The older swine frequent the 

 vicinity of water and mud, and often spend the day in moist spots 

 where dense and thorny bushes grow beneath larger forest -trees. 

 About March nearly all the boars are found near water ; but in hot 

 weather they often betake themselves to the hills in search of shady 

 and cool ravines, returning in September. The females occasionally 

 breed when only a year old, but as a rule not until they have nearly 

 attained two years." 



Very little seems to be known with regard to the wild boar 

 inhabiting Sennar, Kordofan, and the eastern Sudan, which was 

 described by Fitzinger in 1864 as a distinct species, but is probably 

 nothing more than a local race of the wild boar. If distinct from the 

 Morocco wild boar, it should accordingly be termed 5". s. sennarensis. 

 The dense bristly coat is stated to be dull olive- black varied with 

 yellow in colour ; but further particulars in regard to this animal are 

 much required. 



The young of all the wild representatives of the genus Sus are 

 marked with yellowish longitudinal stripes. 



