14 DIGESTION AND FOOD. 



upon it; and, as Youatt says, "In point of fact, the snout of 

 the hog is his spade, with which, in his natural state, he digs 

 and grubs in the ground for roots, earth-nuts, and worms, 

 &c." The lower lip of the pig is short and pointed. When 

 the animal applies its snout to the ground to gather food, the 

 latter is thrown back, and the lip is favourably placed for its 

 reception, or to lift it in between the organs of mastication. 

 It is to prevent the pig burrowing and destroying vegetation 

 that a ring is occasionally placed in his nose, and with this 

 appendage the animal would starve if left to himself in the 

 native haunts of the wild boar or the peccaries. 



The pig in his natural state is deservedly recognised as a 

 wise animal No creature can be easier kept, and prove more 

 profitable, than a sow. I have before alluded to the fact that 

 swine are omnivorous, and eat all This habit has been taken 

 advantage of in some parts of the world ; and in Naples pigs 

 are, or at all events were, to a great extent, the scavengers of 

 the town. When night is far advanced, and the streets quiet, 

 the strolling stranger may be suddenly alarmed by a grunting 

 animal moving rapidly by. Several are met in succession, 

 and they run about the town until daylight, when each, 

 having picked from the streets that which, at a rapid trot, it 

 could gather, returns home and anxiously awaits night-time 

 again. That pigs are to be reared to hunt for their food, 

 and find their way from home at stated periods, is illustrated 

 by an anecdote by Sir F. Head, who, in his Bubbles from the 

 Brunnen, says: 



" Every morning, at half-past five o'clock, I hear, as I am 

 dressing, the sudden blast of an immense long wooden horn, 

 from which always proceed the same four notes. I have got 

 quite accustomed to this wild reveille'; and the vibration has 

 scarcely subsided, and is still ringing among the distant hills, 

 when, leisurely proceeding from almost every door in the 



