42 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



circular boar's tusk. The upper canine teeth are extracted and the 

 lower ones are allowed to grow till they assume the desired form ! 



The general shape of the domesticated pig is too well known 

 to need description ; but though it has undergone more or less 

 change in the course of this domestication, this is chiefly in the 

 development of fat. This shape, then, is to be associated with the 

 habits of life followed by its wild ancestors. 



The wild pig generally frequents marshy places, where there 

 is plenty of cover, and where the nature of the ground is favour- 

 able to their peculiar method of feeding. The mornings and 

 evenings are the times when they venture forth in quest of food, 

 the middle of the day being spent, as a rule, in seclusion amid 

 rank grass or other suitable cover. 



The females and young usually associate in herds or " droves," 

 while the males lead a more or less solitary life. 



Wild boars were once common in the British Islands, but have 

 now been extinct for centuries. They still existed in Oxford in 

 1339, an d in Suffolk in 1572 ; while in Chartley Forest, in Stafford- 

 shire, they held out till 1593. In Scotland and Ireland they 

 lingered still longer, but there is no record of their final extermina- 

 tion. 



Wherever pigs have been introduced into small islands by 

 settlers they have in every case destroyed all ground-breeding 

 birds by devouring their eggs, for the pig is an omnivorous feeder, 

 though roots form the staple diet both of wild pigs and those 

 which have escaped from domestication. A comparison should be 

 made between the teeth of the pig and those, say, of the sheep, 

 since specimens of both can easily be obtained. The very strik- 

 ing differences which obtain between the " grinders " of the 

 omnivorous pig and the cud-chewing sheep will illustrate the 

 relation which obtains between the form of the teeth and the 

 nature of the food. 



In India pigs are hunted, and afford excellent sport ; and 

 though " pig-sticking " is one of the most exciting of all forms of 

 hunting, it is attended with no inconsiderable danger, for when 

 at bay the wild boar fights with great ferocity and pluck, using its 

 tusks, which are keen as razors, with terrible effect. Even the 

 tiger is sometimes worsted by a battle with the wild boar. 



