EARTH-HOGS. PORCUPINES, WILD HOGS, ETC. 



rooting and eating the fruits at night-time. It ean 

 often also be seen in the open plains digging with its 

 long tusks for edible roots. 



While its eyes are weak, its hearing and sense of smell 

 are keen. Old boars fleeing through the high grass or 

 through thickets have often been mistaken for lions 

 by my natives. The bristles on their back, often over 

 twelve inches long, seen from a distance, really vsuggest 

 a lion's mane. 



The wart-hog is usually found in the open country, 

 and never very far from water, but sometimes it will 

 also make its home in the burrows of the "aard-vark," 

 several often inhabiting the same burrow. Wounded 

 wart-hogs are apt to turn on the hunters and may be- 

 come dangerous, their lower tushes being provided with 

 edges. The wart-hog is, as a rule, seen in small families, 

 and manages very well to keep out of sight of pursuers. 

 Our own wild hogs have succeeded in surviving constant 

 hunting in densely settled countries, and there is no 

 reason why the wild hogs of Africa should not have a 

 long lease of life. 



While I am writing these lines I am informed of the 

 discovery of a species of the wild hog hitherto unknown 

 in East Africa, which may be classed between the two 

 kinds I have mentioned. 



This goes to show how little known the fauna of the 

 "Dark Continent" still is to us. 



