56 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



and retreat only when all had rejoined her. I once 

 saw a female warthog charge a big male leopard that had 

 attacked her offspring. The cat turned tail at once, fled, 

 closely pursued, for about thirty yards, and then sprang 

 into a tree. From this sanctuary it growled and snarled 

 at its adversary, but showed no disposition to descend. 



The usual pace of the warthog when running away is 

 a fast trot, the head, as well as the tail, held high ; it 

 is seldom that it breaks into a gallop, and then but for a 

 short distance. Occasionally, solitary boars are to be 

 seen in conjunction with antelopes or zebras, but generally 

 feed at a little distance from the herd. Warthogs are 

 gifted with a very keen sense of smell and acute hearing, 

 but the eyesight appears to be rather deficient. Favour- 

 ing open forest country, they eat grass and also dig for 

 roots, though they do not turn up the soil to the same 

 extent as bush pigs. The yam-like roots of some of the 

 acacias appear to be sought, and the bark is sometimes 

 stripped from the stems of the bushes. I never found 

 that they attempted to do any damage to growing crops 

 of any kind, and I believe them to be in every way harm- 

 less, though they are sometimes accused of egg eating. 

 They are very silent animals, only occasionally uttering 

 a low grunt. 



THE BUSH PIG. The novice may easily distinguish 

 the bush pig from the warthog, by his reddish-grey colour, 

 the long pencilled tufts on the extremities of his ears, and 

 the fact that, when running, both head and tail are held 

 low. He is also a much more noisy animal, and grunts and 

 squeals much like a domestic pig. He ranges practically 

 all over Africa south of the Sahara, and, owing to his 

 secretive habits, is likely to have a long life as a species. 



Several varieties of the bush pig have been named ; 

 but their habits are probably nowhere greatly dissimilar. ' 



