94 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 



fed by day instead of keeping to the hours of twilight and 

 night preferred by their wild ancestors; they were more 

 sociable, too, for the male kept with the herd instead of 

 retiring periodically to his solitary lair, as the wild boar does; 

 and though the Highland pigs were wilder and more active 

 than Lowland breeds, they never had the ferocity, the 

 strength, nor the swiftness of the wild animals, which can 

 keep pace for a time with a horse at speed. 



Nevertheless it is a far cry from the primitive Highland 

 race to the modern improved breeds of to-day (Fig. 21). 



Fig. 21. Finished product of domestication Large White Boar, "King of the Groves," 

 Champion, Highland Show, 1912. 



By reducing his domesticated pigs' activity, by supplying 

 food far more abundant than the wilds yield, by selecting 

 such as fell in with his views of what a pig ought to be, 

 and by cross-breeding the descendants of the European 

 Wild Hog with the Chinese breed of the Wild Indian Pig, 

 Sus indica, man has profoundly modified their appearance 

 and habits. Their bodies have increased in length as well 

 as in depth, their legs have shortened and become more 

 spread to bear the heavy bulk ; their ears, no longer given 

 to catching the first whisper of danger, have flapped uselessly 

 across the ear-opening ; their noses, no longer required for 



