THE WILD BOAR. 



;. f :/;Ojfc3^y'*gbbd WgasuFements ar 8i inches in length and 1 inch 

 in thickness, and 8 inches in length and 1 inch in thickness, being those 

 of tusks of pigs shot by Mr. J. Holmeberg and Dr. P. H. Atwood 

 respectively. 



Professor E. T. Nystrom, formerly of Tai-yuan Fu Imperial Uni- 

 versity, records having shot a boar which measured 7 feet from the tip 

 of the nose to the tip of the tail. 



.The record Indian tusks measurement is 14f inches; the record 

 European one 13 inches. The largest, pigs are found in the Caucasis, 

 where specimens weighing as much as 600 Ibs. have been recorded. 



The record height belongs to India, where a fine old tusker was 

 killed, which measured 40 inches at the shoulder. 



In China, as elsewhere, the wild boar commits terrible depreda- 

 tions upon the crops of the country folk. It is nothing to see a field 

 of peas or potatoes comipletely devastated by a sounder of wild swine in 

 some of the more mountainous regions. The natives have great trouble 

 in guarding their crops, as the pigs soon learn not to fear the primitive 

 guns in vogue in these remote districts. 



The wild pig is very prolific, old sows producing as many as fifteen 

 young in a litter. The mother builds a nest of hazel stems, carefully 

 laid over a deep hollow. Here she produces her brood, the young 

 remaining in this shelter for some days after they are born. After 

 leaving the nest they stay with the old sow for about six months, by 

 which time they are half grown and thoroughly capable of caring for 

 themselves. 



In winter the coat is long and very bristly, with a thick woolly 

 under fur. In summer this is dropped, and in the autumn a new soft 

 coat appears, which grows very rapidly into the bristly winter covering. 



In Shansi during the last few years the wild pig has been greatly 

 on the increase. This winter (1913-14), however, an epidemic has 

 spread through the country, killing off whole sounders at a time. The 

 natives of the districts have, of course, taken full advantage of this 

 bountiful supply of meat, and a good many pigs, which have died thus 

 have found their way into the game markets of Tientsin. A similar 

 epidemic occurred some years ago, absolutely depleting certain sections 

 of country of their stocks of wild swine. These epidemics da more to 

 keep down game than a good deal of shooting, but that is no excuse 

 for the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter that sometimes goes on. 



Of the habits of the pig there is very little to say. In North China 

 they seem to prefer well forested areas, or at least districts where 

 there is ample cover. They are particularly fond of woods and copses 



