THE TRUE PIGS 



1013 



Habits 



inches have been recorded, and one is said to have been obtained which measured 

 upward of twelve inches. The Indian wild boar is found in suitable spots through- 

 out India, Ceylon, and Burma, and also in the wooded districts of the outer Hima- 

 layas, extending into the interior as far as Kashmir. 



Since the habits of all swine are very similar, while those of the 

 Indian wild boar are best known to Englishmen, we may give an ac- 

 count of them in this place. As we have said, pigs generally frequent moist or 

 marshy situations, where there is plenty of cover, and their great characteristic is 

 their habit of turning up the ground with their snouts in search of food, leaving 

 marks by which their presence in a district can be instantly recognized. It is this 

 habit which renders these animals so especially obnoxious to the cultivator. Dur- 

 ing the day the Indian wild boar makes his lair in any convenient cover, sometimes 



A "SOUNDER" OF WII.D SWINE. 



in tall grass, at others in reeds or sugar cane, and at others in bushes or forest, 

 while not unfrequently standing crops other than sugar cane afford the necessary 

 shelter. In the morning and evening he wanders forth in search of food, in cul- 

 tivated districts devastating the crops, but away from human haunts he depends 

 chiefly upon roots, those of a kind of sedge being especial favorites. Wild pigs will, 

 however, readily feed on the carcasses of animals and other carrion, while in Assam 

 they are stated to be in the habit of digging out the fish which bury themselves in the 

 mud during the dry season. According to Mr. Blanford, pigs are less nocturnal in 

 their habits in remote districts than in those where they are much disturbed. While 

 the females and young associate in droves or ' ' sounders, ' ' usually comprising from ten 

 to a dozen head, and rarely exceeding twenty, the old boars are solitary. The number 

 of young produced at a birth by the European species varies from six to ten, after a 

 gestation of four months; and frequently at least two litters are produced in a year. 



