WILD PIGS 59 



three feet high, but the pigs can, upon occasion, squeeze 

 under much lower places, indeed so low, that to get 

 through a man has to make his way extended flat upon 

 his face. 



The beasts do not seem to travel in the bush far from 

 their regular runs ; consequently, when disturbed, it is 

 generally impossible to see them, as they dash down 

 some covered way. The tunnels open out at intervals 

 into glades, and small places in the bush are used as 

 wallows, as well as for rooting ; four or five roadways 

 often open into these from all sides. There is an obvious 

 love of much wallowing in soft soil, and at frequent 

 intervals along the streams are very large mud baths, 

 often measuring as much as twenty feet by ten, generally 

 in places where the overhanging banks form natural 

 excavations. The floors of these are one sea of deep 

 thick mud, evidently habitually used by families of pigs 

 to roll about in, as the whole mass is always freshly 

 trampled and is pounded into a sort of brown porridge. 



The tushes are sharpened upon trees, and I saw marks 

 on a trunk at a measured height of four feet from the 

 ground (of course to effect this the pig may have been 

 standing on his hind legs, with his fore ones resting 

 against the tree). The usual pace when disturbed is a 

 trot, but when suddenly alarmed they go headlong 

 down the tunnels, making a very loud crashing. They 

 utter deep grunts, much like those of an ordinary pig, 

 though louder and more resonant. 



THE WATER CHEVROTAIN. This is the only African 

 representative of the little so-called " mouse deer." 

 Although ruminants, there are certain structural differ- 

 ences which cause the family to form a distinct group. 

 They are tiny animals standing not much more than 

 twelve inches at the shoulder, and of a brownish colour, 



