PIGS. 429 



In Germany the European wild boar is hunted with boarhounds ; 



and when in the highlands of Ceylon Sir Samuel Baker was in the 

 habit of hunting the Indian pig with a pack of dogs, and despatching his quarry 

 single-handed with a hunting-knife. In all parts of India where riding is possible 

 the wild boar is, however, always speared ; and the sport of " pig-sticking," as it is 

 commonly called, is undoubtedly by far the finest and most exciting of all the 

 many kinds of Indian shikar. One of the best grounds for pig- sticking is the old 

 valley of the Ganges in the neighbourhood of Mirut, locally known as the Khadir. 

 Here " the ground," writes General Kinloch, " consists of level plains covered with 

 grass and intersected with deep nullas or ravines, some dry, others full of water ; 

 with deep but invisible ditches ; holes varying in size, from pits large enough to 

 swallow up horse and rider to others just big enough to admit a horse's leg ; 

 hidden stumps, and tangled bushes ; and over this one has to gallop at racing pace." 

 Falls are of course frequent, although severe accidents are less common than might 

 have been expected. 



A smaller species of pig inhabits the forests of the Andaman 



Islands in the Bay of Bengal, and stands only some 20 inches in 

 height at the shoulder. In addition to its small stature, the Andaman pig 

 (S. andamanensis) is further distinguished by its relatively short tail, the shaggi- 

 ness of the coat, the absence of the crest of long hair on the neck, and, above all, 

 by the relative shortness of the hindmost lobe of the last molar tooth in the lower 



jaw. The third Indian representative of the genus is the pigmy hog 



(S. salvanius), of the forests at the foot of the Himalaya in Bhutan, 

 Sikhim, and Nipal. These tiny little pigs are scarcely larger than hares, standing 

 only about 11 inches at the shoulder. They are brown or blackish brown in 

 colour, with small, naked ears, very short tail, and only three pairs of teats in the 

 female instead of the usual six. From the little that is known of the habits of 

 these pigs in the wild state, it appears that they generally live in herds of from 

 five to twenty head in grass-jungle, and that the old boars remain with the sows. 

 Probably the number of young produced at a birth is less than in other pigs. 



We have now to consider briefly the wild pigs of the islands of 

 Malayan Pigs. . . 



the Malayan region and Japan ; and it is among these that the 



greatest uncertainty prevails among zoologists, as to the real number of species 

 discoverable. These pigs may, however, be divided into three groups, of which 

 the first is nearly related to the Indian pig. The best known representative of 

 the first group is the collared pig (8. vittatus) of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, 

 characterised by the white streak running along the sides of the face to the neck, 

 and by the absence of any crest of hair on the back of the neck, and of warts 

 on the face; the last lower molar tooth being large and complex. The white- 

 whiskered Japan pig (8. leucomystax), as well as the Papuan pig (S. papuensis), 

 and the Formosan pig (S. taevanus) are nearly allied species. The second group is 

 represented by a well-marked species known as the warty pig (S. verrucosus), 

 from Java and Borneo, readily distinguished by the presence of three small warts 

 on each side of the face, the largest of these carrying a number of bristles and 

 being situated just below the eye. The skull in this pig is of ordinary length ; 

 while the last lower molar tooth is of medium size and complexity. The Ceram 



