A WILD-HOG HUNT IN TEXAS. 321 



The collared peccary is the only species found in North 

 America ; and of it I shall new particularly speak. It is 

 met with when you approach the more southern latitudes 

 westward of the Mississippi river. In that great wing 

 of the continent, to the eastward of this river, and now 

 occupied by the United States, no such animal exists, 

 nor is there any proof that it was ever known to exist 

 there in its wild state. In the new states formed out of 

 Texas, it is a common animal, and its range extends 

 westward to the Pacific, and south throughout the re- 

 mainder of the continent. 



As you proceed westward, the line of its range rises 

 considerably ; and in New Mexico, it is met with as high 

 as the thirty-third parallel. This is just following the 

 isothermal line, and proves that the peccary cannot 

 endure the rigors of a severe winter climate. It is a pro- 

 duction of the tropics and the countries adjacent. 



Some naturalists assert that it is a forest-dwelling ani- 

 mal, and is never seen in open countries. Others, as 

 Buffon, state that it makes its habitation in the moun- 

 tains, near the low countries -and plains; while still 

 others have declared that it is never found in the moun- 

 tains. I believe none of these "theories" to be correct. 

 It is well known to frequent the forest-covered plains of 

 Texas ; and Ernoy (one of the most talented of modern 

 observers) reports having met with a large drove of pec- 



