ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1387 



COLLARED PECCARY 



find the mother. One moonlight night I walked 

 into a herd of sleeping peccaries which started 

 up with grunts, snorts and a clicking of tusks. 

 A wave of musk of great intensity arose and 

 spread so quickly that I feel sure that it liter- 

 ally must have been forcibly ejected from the 

 glands. Habitually, the boars rub their backs 

 on low limbs to leave their trade mark behind 

 and thus m . .: out their range. 



Young peccaries arrive at any season of the 

 year, so that at any time one is likely to come 

 upon a nest containing one or two little reddish 

 pigs. If taken and raised on a bottle they be- 

 come affectionate pets, and later develop into 

 very jealous and ferocious watch dogs; but for 

 the safety of strangers they must be killed or 

 confined when a couple of years old. 



Little black pigs follow their mothers right 

 among the full-grown pigs of both sexes. Pigs 

 may be found anywhere ; on hill tops, along 

 streams, on the flats, any place at any time ; 

 their little tracks making lacework over the 

 ground after a rain, showing in many places 

 where the pigs walk on the extreme tip of the 

 hoof when expecting danger. The first intima- 

 tion that one gets of the proximity of pigs is 

 their strong odor, by which they actually can 

 be followed by man. 



When the pigs detect the presence of an ene- 

 my, they snort and click their razor-edged 

 tusks, but as soon as the enemy is located they 

 make off, deploying in fan-shape formation, to 

 come together again when danger is past. They 

 root for their food, which seems to be princi- 

 pally vegetable, although grubs also undoubted- 

 ly are eaten. Cactus, or nopal, forms a con- 

 siderable portion of their diet, as it does of the 

 deer, wood rats and other animals. 



The peccaries of the Texas border were near- 

 ly exterminated some years ago by hide hunters 

 who used dogs. I found a little negro who 

 killed his peccaries with a penknife ! The dog 

 would seize the pig by one ear and hold on 

 until our hero ran up, seized piggy by the other 

 ear and cut his throat. Peccaries cannot be 

 hunted with a jacklight, as deer are illegally 

 hunted, because their eyes do not shine. Their 

 eyes are small, and possibly the pigs have more 

 sense than to stare at a strange light. It will 

 not be long before peccaries are exterminated 

 throughout the partially settled country, be- 

 cause they are easily followed by dogs, and 

 they have a fatal failing for going over their 

 old range despite the changes wrought by man. 

 Thus it is not unusual to see a band passing 

 through a yard, or even a camp of soldiers. 



A MEXICAN AND HIS PET DEER 



