The Wart-Hog 52,1 



When hunting in the Matamiri bush last year, I had wounded a boar and 



chased him to earth in a shallow burrow ; then, crouching down in front of 



the hole, I drove an assegai into his throat, but being a light weapon, the 



haft broke and the hog at once charged out, ran between my legs, and 



knocked me down. As I fell I seized a hind leg, when he instantly 



whipped round and inflicted a very nasty wound on one of the boys, 



thinking, perhaps, that it was he who had hold of his leg. The second 



boy, however, saved the situation by assegaing the brute before further 



harm was done. Any .450 rifle carrying expanding bullets will kill a 



wart-hog clean. 



F. Vaughan Kirby. 



The Northern Wart-Hog (Phacochxrus athiopicus africanus) 



Somali Name, Dofar 



The wart-hog is, of course, so called from the conical protuberances on 

 its face. In the boar they are four in number, symmetrically placed one 

 on each side of the face between the eye and the mouth, and one on each 

 side of the head behind the eye ; the latter are the largest. When cut off 

 close to the root these appear to be knobs of skin devoid of blood-vessels. The 

 boar has bristles considerably over a foot long from the top of the head along 

 the back ; the rest of the body being clothed with much shorter bristles. 

 The tusks of the boar are very fine, the upper pair being the bigger. 

 The best I have weigh 10 ounces and io-J ounces, respectively, and measure 

 12 inches along the curve, of which 10 inches on the outer curve and 

 g inches on the inner curve project beyond the gums ; from tip to base in 

 a straight line they measure 8 inches. The lower tushes weigh z\ ounces 

 each, and are 9^ inches round the curve, of which 6 inches project beyond 

 the gums. From tip to base in a straight line, 7 inches. The circum- 

 ference of the upper tush is 4J inches at the gum. The massive character of 

 3 x 



