NATURAL HISTORY 35 



Intelligence. — I do not put a pig's intelligence 

 very high. They have memory and reasoning 

 powers to a certain extent undoubtedly. I know 

 of a small bagh within a hundred yards of a camping- 

 ground which always holds pig, but which is always 

 abandoned by them at once on the first signs of the 

 camp being occupied. This argues both reasoning 

 powers and memory. Again, pig in the Meerut 

 country have learnt to connect a whistle with 

 danger. Yet given so much intelligence I always 

 wonder why they do not use it more. Why do they 

 ever (still reverting to our one instance of a bagh, 

 for we need not labour the point) go into the bagh 

 when they know it will be bad for them one day ? 

 They are very fond of occupying a favourite patch 

 no matter how many are killed from it. This is 

 like the carnivorse. But when one of the latter 

 takes up his abode in a place, he has no means of 

 knowing the fate of his predecessor. The pig, on 

 the other hand, was probably a squeaker brought 

 up in the same cover, and saw his grandfather and 

 father killed from it. Like most of us, do they 

 chance it ? 



Pig going to and returning from their feeding 

 will sometimes take an easy road over open country 

 if they have been exposed to danger from gun or 

 panther in a naturally safer route through hills and 

 nullahs. 



I am not one of those who ascribe great cunning 

 to a pig in a run. A boar will run into cattle, he 

 will take the roughest line, he will jink, squat and 

 sneak away marvellously. He will bump into a 

 lesser pig, drive him out with instant invitation, 

 and hide in his place. He will do these and many 

 similar things, but they are mostly matters of 



