COLLARED PECCARY. 239 



above them, from which " point of vantage " we were enabled easily to 

 drop a noose round their necks, which we tightened until we thought 

 they were nearly suffocated ; we then drew them out, tied their legs and 

 feet securely, and fastened their mouths by binding their jaws together 

 with cords, and then left them lying on the ground for a time. On our 

 return we found that they had got over the effect of the ' experimental 

 hanging ' they had gone through. We put them across a horse, and in 

 trying to get loose they so tightened the ropes and entangled them about 

 their necks, that they died before we observed this on our way home with 

 them. This is the usual mode of taking these animals alive, although 

 some are caught in pits. They have a large musk-bag upon the back, 

 from which a very disagreeable odour is emitted whilst the animal is ex- 

 cited ; but this is not observable after they are killed. The flesh of the 

 female is good at some seasons of the year, but that of the male is strong, 

 coarse and disagreeable at all times. Their principal food consists of 

 nuts of every description (mast) during %vinter ; but in summer they feed 

 on succulent plants, with which the bottom lands in the Brazos abound. 

 The male measured forty inches from the tip of its nose to that of its tail ; 

 the female is shorter by two inches. The eyes are very dark hazel 

 colour." 



" As soon as they get within their den, one of them, probably the oldest 

 male, stands sentinel at the entrance. Should the hunter kill it, another 

 immediately takes its place, and so in succession until all are killed. 

 This animal, which in Texas is always called the wild hog, is considered 

 the bravest animal of these forests, for it dreads neither man nor beast." 



The Collared Peccary is easily domesticated, and breeds readily in 

 confinement. We saw a pair on board of a ship that arrived in 

 Charleston from South America, the female of ^vhich had produced two 

 young whilst on the passage ; they were then several weeks old, and 

 seemed to be in a thriving condition. 



Mons. M. L. E. Moreau Saint Meey, the translator of the work of 

 D'AzABA, from the Spanish into the French language, states that in 1787 

 he saw at the residence of the Governor General La Luzerne, a tame 

 Collared Peccary, which he had procured from Carthagena, with the in- 

 tention of multiplying the species in San Domingo, (Note du Traducteur 

 D'AzARA, tom. i., p. 42.) We observed at the Zoological Gardens in Lon- 

 don, young Peccaries that had been born in the menagerie. This animal, 

 however, is less prolific than the common domesticated hog, and its odor- 

 ous glands being moreover offensive, the extensive domestication of it 

 would not be attended with any profit to the agriculturist. 



We have frequently seen the Collared Peccary in confinement. One 



