HOGS. 243 



strong hoofs. Their snout looks as if it had been sud- 

 denly chopped off, as if to expose the nostrils, which are 

 pierced in this truncated portion. Their triangular, 

 canine teeth, or tusks, project beyond the mouth ; those 

 of both jaws curve upwards. They make very formid- 

 able weapons, as many a dog and huntsman has known 

 to his cost. Wild hogs are covered with stiff, dark 

 brown hair, which gets grizzly with age, and is more 

 upright along the back. The tail is short, and in 

 many varieties of the domestic pig it curls very tightly. 



The male wild boar only associates with the female 

 for a short period, and at other times lives alone, in 

 the thickest parts of dense forests ; corning forth in the 

 evening to procure his food, which is chiefly of a vege- 

 table nature. It is only when pressed by hunger that 

 wild hogs will eat animal substances. The females herd 

 together, and their young remain with them till they 

 are two or three years old. When they are about to 

 be born, the mothers retreat as far as possible from the 

 fathers, as the latter have a most longing desire always 

 to devour their offspring. The females, left to defend 

 themselves and their children, place the latter behind 

 them, and expose themselves in a line to the attacks of 

 an enemy, or they form a circle round them, and evince 

 an extraordinary amount of fury and courage. Sparr- 

 man, the South African traveller, asserts that the species 

 of wild sow in those regions, when so closely pursued 

 that it is impossible for them to make off, take the young 

 pigs in their mouths. To his astonishment, one day, 

 when pursuing a herd, all the young owes disappeared, 

 nor could he explain the mystery till aware of this sin- 

 gular fact. 



The hunting of wild boars has, from the most ancient 



