96 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



merly a native of the British Islands, and very common in the 

 forests until the time of the civil wars in England. 



The wild hog is now spread over the temperate and warmer 

 parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color 

 varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown 

 with black spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse 

 hairs or bristles, intersected with soft wool, and with coarser 

 and longer bristles upon the neck and spine, which he erects 

 when in anger. He is a very bold and powerful creature, and 

 becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From the form of 

 his teeth he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and delights in 

 roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him to 

 discover beneath the surface. He also feeds upon animal sub- 

 stances, such as worms and larvae which he grubs up from the 

 ground, the eggs of birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, 

 and occasionally carrion ; he even attacks venomous snakes with 

 impunity. 



The female produces a litter but once a year, and in much 

 smaller numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries 

 her young for four months or sixteen weeks. 



In a wild state the hog has been known to live more than 

 thirty years ; but when domesticated he is usually slaughtered 

 for bacon before he is two years old, and boars killed for brawn 

 seldom reach to the age of five. "When the wild hog is tamed, 

 it undergoes the following among other changes in its conforma- 

 tion. The ears become less movable, not being required to 

 collect distant sounds. The formidable tusks of the male 

 diminish, not being necessary for self-defense. The muscles of 

 the neck become less developed, from not being so much exer- 

 cised as in the natural state. The head becomes more inclined, 

 the back and loins are lengthened, the body rendered more 

 capacious, the limbs shorter and less muscular ; and anatomy 

 proves that the stomach and intestinal canals have also become 

 proportionately extended along with the form of the body. 

 The habits and instincts of the animal change ; it becomes diur- 

 nal in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food ; 



