RED RIVER HOG. 
Ir it is possible for 
a pig t 
The Prettiest ie Wo 
and the be hand- 
Ugliest Swine some 
at the Zoo. ; : 
il we Sw 
place must be given 
to the Red River Hog 
(Potamocherus  pent- 
cillatus), whom I have 
often heard visitors 
call “‘a pretty creature.” 
The bright red colour 
of this animal, with 
the white streak which 
marks the line of its 
back, and its long 
ETHIOPIAN WART HOG. 
Zoo Notes 301 
sleet obscuring my rifle sights, 1 projected 
no fewer than three bullets at the diabolical- 
looking boars without touching a bristle, the 
whole party, with a general grunt, scampering 
off after each discharge to a little distance, 
then wheeling about to show a menacing front, 
exalting their whip-lash tails at the same 
time, and screwing horrible faces at me. But 
the fourth missive tripped up the hoary general ; 
and although shooting a pig may sound some- 
what oddly in the sporting ears of my brother 
Nimrods, I can assure them that whilst we had 
no horses to spare ‘the head of that ilk swine’ 
proved a prize well worth the lead and gun- 
powder that had been expended upon it. 
Gigantic and pro- 
truding like those of 
an elephant, the upper 
tusks were sufficiently 
hooked to admit of the 
wearer hanging lLim- 
self up by them to 
roost, as did his an- 
cestors of yore, if the 
ancients are to be be- 
lieved. By all who 
saw these trophies in 
the colony, they were 
invariably taken for 
the iyories of a Zeekoe 
(hippopotamus).” 
tufted ears (very much resembling those of poor 
“Tommy,” the lynx, which died last year) make 
this “fancy” pig very remarkable. As a con- 
trast to anything handsome in the swine family, 
its most hideous member is undoubtedly the 
Ethiopian Wart Hog (Phacocherus ethiopicus). 
The circular curve of the tusks, as shown in 
the photographs, is not so pronounced when the 
animal is in the wild state and seeks its own 
food, as the points would be kept sharp and worn 
down by constant use. Captain Sir C. Harris gives 
a very graphic description of this particular species, 
as follows:—“ Returning one drizzly wet morning 
from the banks of the Limpopo I chanced upon 
a very large drove of the unclean beasts feeding 
unconcernedly on the slope of a hill; and, the 
ETHIOPIAN WART HOG. 
