240 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



and beyond this the fat is of assistance to the animal when it is 

 swimming, being of less specific weight than water. Added to these 

 remarkable devices for assisting this animal to pursue its inhabitance 

 among marshy surroundings, there is the fact of the bristles drying 

 quickly and the colour of the skin well protects it from being 

 espied. 



As omnivorous feeders the Wild Boar and its domestic relation 

 are well known, for whilst the latter does not appear to disdain 

 anything in the eatable way, its wild cousin feeds on acorns, nuts, 

 wild fruits, fungi, roots, potatoes, turnips, cereals, snails, insects, 

 mice, worms and carrion. It is certainly not a vegetarian, partaking 

 as it does of a large amount of animal food as well, and its teeth 

 are adapted for procuring and masticating both. 



The Wild Boar is largely a nocturnal animal, wallowing in the 

 water during the heat of the day and coming out at night-time to 

 appease its hunger. It is somewhat of a blunderbuss in its wander- 

 ings ; that is to say, when feeding among crops it certainly destroys 

 more than it eats, and when resorting to a district where farming 

 operations are carried on, it undoubtedly perpetrates much damage. 

 Being a night hunter it is essential that this beast should possess 

 keen senses of smell and touch, and an acute sense of hearing. 

 These are all prominently developed, the sense of sight being very 

 weak. The sensitiveness of the snout is well known to those who 

 have kept Domestic Pigs, and their habit of finding truffles (a kind 

 of mushroom) need only be mentioned as illustrative of this. 



We now pass on to consider the Wild Boar as a burrowing 

 animal, for it has the habit of digging up roots, bulbs and insects 

 found below the soil. In this, as may be supposed from what 

 has already been written of its structure, the beast under review 

 is well assisted by the pointed head, upon the end of which 

 the nose is prolonged into a snout or proboscis. We find, too, 

 that the nostrils are well protected when burrowing operations 

 are taking place by being placed at the "anterior end on the 

 terminal burrowing disc." Further, the canine teeth being 

 developed into strong tusks and directed upward in both the upper 

 and the lower jaws, serve the Boar well in its digging, for by means 

 of them it is capable of tearing up the ground in search of delicacies, 

 "and for lifting up roots as thick as a man's arm as easily as with 

 a crowbar." The short, powerful neck, and the muscles at the 

 nape, ably serve the Boar in its burrowing operations and otherwise, 



