WILD B OAR. 



PLATE XIII. 



Class Mammalia. Order VIII. Pachydermata ; thick- 

 skinned animals. Genus, Sus. 



The wild boar, which, according to Cuvier, is the origi- 

 nal from which have sprung all the common varieties of 

 the domestic hog, seems to have abounded at one time in 

 nearly every country of Europe and Asia, and also in some 

 parts of Africa. In America it was unknown until intro- 

 duced by Europeans ; for the Peccary, although some- 

 times called the Mexican hog, appears to be indisputably 

 a distinct animal. 



In the * Description of London,' by Fitzstephen, written 

 in the reign of Henry II., in the latter part of the twelfth 

 century, it is stated that the forest by which London was 

 then surrounded was frequented by boars as well as vari- 

 ous other wild animals. The tradition is, that the county 

 of Fife in Scotland was famous as a haunt of boars. A 

 district forming a portion of it is in old writings designated 

 by the name of the Boar Hills, which has now been cor- 

 rupted into Byre Hills. It lies in the vicinity of St. An- 

 drews, in the cathedral church of which city it is said that 

 there were to be seen before the Reformation, attached by 

 chains to the high altar, two boars' tusks of the extraordi- 

 nary length of sixteen inches each, the memorials r of an 

 enormous brute which had been slaughtered by the inhabi- 

 tants after having long infested the neighborhood. 



In every country where the wild boar was found, the 

 hunting of the. animal was a favorite sport. In ancient 

 times, it was practised equally by the civilized Romans, 

 and by our own barbarous forefathers in Germany, and in 

 this island. In this country the wild boar was reckoned 

 among the ordinary "beasts of venery" down to a com- 

 VOL, II. 7 



