10 NATURAL HISTORY 



female was grown very sagacious and art- 

 ful ; when she found occasion to converse 

 with a boar she used to open all the inter- 

 vening gates, and march, by herself, up 

 to a distant farm where one was kept ; and 

 when her purpose was served would return 

 by the same means. At the age of about 

 fifteen her litters began to be reduced to 

 four or five; and such a litter she exhibited 

 when in her fatting-pen. She proved, when 

 fat, good bacon, juicy, and tender ; the 

 rind, or sward, was remarkably thin. At a 

 moderate computation she was allowed to 

 have been the fruitful parent of three hun- 

 dred pigs : a prodigious instance of fecun- 

 dity in so large a quadruped! She was 

 killed in Spring 1775. 



I am, &c. 



