244- NATURALIST'S CABINET, 



Manners, &c. 



food, and greedily devoured whatever was given 

 him. He was one day left alone in the court- 

 yard for a few minutes, and on the return of the 

 keeper was found busily digging into the earth, 

 where, notwithstanding the cemented bricks of 

 the pavement, he had made a very large hole, 

 with a view, as was afterwards discovered, of 

 reaching a common sewer that passed at a con- 

 siderable depth below. It was not without much 

 trouble, and the assistance of several men, that 

 his labour could be interrupted. They, at length, 

 however, forced him into his age, but he ex- 

 pressed great resentment, and uttered a sharp 

 and mournful noise. 



His motions were much more agile and neat 

 than those of the common hog. He would allow 

 himself to be stroked, and even seemed delighted 

 with rough friction. When provoked, or rudely 

 pushed, he always retired backward, keeping his 

 face towards his assailant, and striking forcibly 

 with his head. When, after long confinement, 

 he was set at liberty for a little while, he was very 

 gay, and leaped about in an entertaining man- 

 ner. On these occasions he would, with his tail 

 erect, sometimes pursue the fallow-deer and other 

 Animals. 



His food was principally grain and roots; and 

 f the former he preferred barley. 



Dr. Sparrman, during his residence in Africa, 

 witnessed a curious method by which these ani- 

 mals protected their young, when pursued, lit 



