ARTIODACTYLA 307 



FAMILY PHACOCHOERIDAE WART AND FOREST HOGS 



The wart hogs (Phacochoerus) , of Africa, are vegetarians, and 

 feed largely on grass, hut take also leaves, bulbs, roots and fruit.* 

 They "often root up the ground, but the stomachs of those we shot 

 were commonly filled with nothing but grass." 9 Their flesh is pro- 

 nounced good. The forest hogs (Hylochoerus), also of Africa, are said 

 to live on leaves and fruit. 10 



FAMILY TAYASSUIDAE PECCARIES 



The Texas collared peccaries (Pecari angitlatus) feed largely on 

 acorns, but take also pecans, walnuts and other mast, roots, herbs, 

 fruits and berries. When other food is scarce, they "utilize the hardy 

 cacti and other desert plants to meet their needs." "The flesh, though 

 strong, is sometimes eaten, but its value to the sportsman lies in the 

 sport of hunting, as well as in the trophies gained." They are vicious 

 fighters, with powerful tusks that can "quickly cut a dog to pieces." 1 

 Mearns tells of the "treeing of a negro servant by a band of infuri- 

 ated peccaries," but adds that "although stories of similar occurrences 

 are commonly repeated by the white settlers of the Southwest, this 

 is the only instance of an attack made on man by peccaries that has 

 come to me on unimpeachable authority." 2 



FAMILY HIPPOPOTAMIDAE HIPPOPOTAMUSES 



"Hippos are sometimes dangerous at night," and have been known 

 to wantonly attack and kill a boy, and to attack canoes and boats and 

 damage crops. They feed on water plants in the late afternoon, but 

 at night "come ashore to feed on the grass and land plants. In conse- 

 quence, those killed during the day, until the late afternoon, had their 

 stomachs filled, not with water plants, but with grasses which they 

 must have obtained in their night journeys." 3 



"The Kafue and Zambesi River hippos eat only grass." The dried 



8 Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 310, 1927. Drake-Brockman, The mammals 

 of Somaliland, p. 100, 1910. 



9 Roosevelt, African game trails, p. 87, 1910. 



10 Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 311, 1927. 



1 Ligon, Wild life of New Mexico, New Mexico Game Comm., p. 97, 1927. Gary, 

 in Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 25, p. 59, 1905. Mearns, U. S. Natl. Museum Bull. 

 No. 56, p. 16, 1907. Stone and Cram, American animals, p. 30, 1902. 



2 Mearns, Mammals of the Mexican Boundary, U. S. Natl. Museum Bull. No. 

 56, p. 167, 1907- 



8 Roosevelt, African game trails, pp. 212, 243-244, 347. Jennison, Natural history: 

 animals, p. 308, 1927. 



