318 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



fenders. With its powerful muzzle or snout the 

 boar strikes and overthrows an opponent; with its 

 sharp tusks it rips open and disembowels. The fe- 

 male, or sow, has no tusks, but her bite is most for- 

 midable ; she accompanies it with a ferocious gnash- 

 ing of the teeth and an infuriated stamping of the 

 hoofs that would alone prove fatal to the trampled 

 adversary. The cry of both consists in an obstrep- 

 erous snort, a signal of alarm and surprise ; but ex- 

 cept in case of danger the brute is usually silent. 



"The wild boar is fond of vast forests, in which it 

 seeks the darkest and most retired spots where it 

 will not be disturbed by man's presence. In the 

 daytime it lies in its retreat or lair amid the thick- 

 est of brushwood and bushes. In the neighborhood 

 there is generally some sort of muddy pool where it 

 wallows with delight. Toward nightfall it leaves its 

 retreat in search of food. With its snout it plows 

 the ground, always in a straight line, to unearth 

 fleshy roots ; it gathers the fruit fallen to the ground, 

 the kernels of cereals, also chestnuts, beech-nuts, 

 hazel-nuts, and acorns, especially the last, its favor- 

 ite food. But a vegetable diet fails to satisfy its 

 voracity. If it knows of a fish-pond, it plows up the 

 banks to get the eels lurking in the mud; if it knows 

 of a rabbit-burrow, it ransacks it by hollowing out a 

 deep ditch and upturning stones with its powerful 

 snout. It surprises the partridge on its nest and 

 devours mother and brood; it crunches young rab- 

 bits in their snug retreat; it lays hold of young 

 fawns in their sleep. Finally, if live prey is want- 



