94 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



to be plentiful in Ireland down to the seventeenth 

 century, but the exact date of their extinction he 

 was unable to ascertain."" 



Many places in Ireland are called after the Wild 

 Boar, as Sliabh-na-muice in Tipperary ; Gleann-na- 

 muice-duibhe near Newry ; Ceann-tuirc in the Co. 

 Cork. Muckross and Tore, also, at Killarney, are de- 

 rived from the same root. The word Muckalagh 

 enters largely into Irish topographical names, and 

 signifies a place where pigs feed probably on acorns. 

 (Wilde, I.e.} 



Tusks of Wild Boars, dug up in Ireland, according 

 to Thompson, are often of goodly dimensions. t 



Several attempts have been made to reintroduce 

 these animals for the purpose of hunting, but, from 

 various causes, none of the experiments proved very 

 successful. In some instances they throve well and 

 increased, but the opposition of those whose crops 

 they damaged was fatal to their existence for any 

 length of time. Charles I. imported some from 

 France,^ an( ^ turned them out in the New Forest, 

 where, according to Aubrey, " they much encreased, 

 and became terrible to the travellers." However, 

 " in the civill warres," he says, " they were destroyed, 



* " Journ. Geol. Soc. Dublin," vol. i. p. 226. See also Wilde, 

 " Proc. Roy. Irish Acad.," vol. vii. p. 208. 



f " Nat. Hist. Ireland," vol. iv. p. 36. 



J Gilpin says " from Germany." He confirms Aubrey's statement 

 as to their increase in the New Forest, and adds that " there is found 

 there at this day (1791) a breed of hogs, commonly called forest pigs, 

 which are very different from the usual Hampshire breed, and have 

 about them several of the characteristic marks of the Wild Boar." 

 Forest Scenery, vol. ii. pp. 168-169 (ed. Lauder). 



