THE WILD BOAR. 3 



of scrub-oak. They also favour sunny slopes, well protected with 

 pines arid spruce, where in winter they may lie up during the day. 

 In summer they resort to watery ravine bottoms for their daily siestas. 

 They feed at night, coming out of their layers late in the evening and 

 usually returning before daylight. 



The wild boar is to be found only in the more mountainous parts 

 where it can find plenty of cover. Such country exists in the 

 north of Chili -li, north and west of Shansi and in many places over 

 Shensi, right out through Kansu to the Thibetan border. As a rule 

 wherever the wild pig exists at all it is very plentiful, but its noctur- 

 nal habits make it difficult to meet. However, by gaining a know- 

 ledge of the habits of the animal and the sort of cover that it prefers, 

 it becomes possible to search it out during the day. 



By far the best thing to do after reaching the hunting ground is 

 to explore the country side for pig wallows. These can not be mis- 

 taken when found, being hollows, often six or seven feet long by 

 three wide, the edges of which rise several inches and sometimes a 

 foot above the surrounding ground. When the earth in these looks 

 newly thrown up then the hunter can rest assured that the pig is not 

 far off, and he should visit the place each day making as little noise 

 as possible so as to get near to his quarry before it takes alarm. 

 Otherwise the pig will hear him long before he is near and will slip 

 quietly away to find shelter elsewhere. 



Once having sighted a pig it needs only accurate shooting, good 

 legs and lungs, and an obstinacy equal to that of the animal itself to 

 finally bring it down. 



That a pig, though severely wounded, will often lead the hunter 

 on a long, tiring chase can be gathered from the following experience. 



Early in January of 1910 I was hunting in seme magnificent moun- 

 tains about a hundred miles north-west of Tai-yuan Fu in Shansi, and 

 bad been following the trail of a wounded tusker all one morning. This 

 pig had been shot two days previously by a native hunter, and on the 

 evening of the day before had run into my boy while he was setting 

 traps in a small ravine. The boy being unarmed, the pig made good its 

 escape into a dense forest. As I have already said we followed the 

 tracks all the next morning, but finally lost them in a dry and stony 

 ravine, nor could we pick them up again. Accompanied by a native 

 hunter I was searching for the lost trail, when we ran acrossi a fresher 

 but smaller track. This we followed and it lead us through a beauti- 

 ful pine forest, over the top of a ridge and down into some dense 

 thorn bushes on the other side. As we entered the latter there was a 



