76 A COUNTRY READER. 



head and shoulders could drive his fearful tusks 

 into and rip up the body of his foe. 



Very few wild animals, even in numbers, dared 

 ever attack an old boar when he was in such a 

 position that his enemies had to attack him 

 in front, and could not attack him either on his 

 flank or in his rear. 



Travellers tell us that the wild boar has been 

 known to kill a tiger in fair fight. 



So the common grunts and squeals of the pig, 

 sounds that you must have so often heard, were 

 forms of speech to preserve their lives when 

 pigs in their wild state were hard pressed. 



You may be quite sure that all the different 

 sounds, pitches and grades of sound, throughout 

 all the living world around you, mean something, 

 and are understood by other animals of the same 

 kind, so that the different animals and birds used 

 their different sounds or songs, because at one time 

 they were of use to them for self-preservation. 



When in the wild state a pig grunted and 

 squealed for such long ages in order to preserve 

 its life and those of its companions, that now he 

 grunts from habit when in his sty, although his 

 grunt can now be of little or no use to him. 



A Pig's Shape. 



The shape of a pig, the formation of its feet, 

 the firmness of his well- knit- together flesh, the 



