222 THE WARTHOG 



line runs a scraggy mane of long bristles which, 

 with the short, skimpy, tufted tail, is stiffly 

 erected in moments of excitement or alarm. 

 But, after his warts, the most singular character- 

 istic of this curious pig is his four large tusks. 

 The lower, or, as it is sometimes called, the cutting 

 tusk, is, of course, much the smaller of the two, the 

 best pair in my possession measuring just under 

 5 inches ; but the upper tusks are so long and 

 heavy as to give him the appearance of wearing 

 defences which do not belong to him. These 

 often reach a measurement of 9 or 10 inches, and 

 at times, I believe, considerably more, and their 

 effect, viewed at close quarters, confers upon the 

 wearer somewhat of the appearance of some 

 misshapen, perky stage beast seen in a pantomime, 

 and wearing an immense ivory moustache sedu- 

 lously trained up at the ends as though by the 

 aid of a German Schnurrbart-binde. 



Nothing could be more amusing than a family 

 of warthogs as, lying at their ease in a sand-pit or 

 mud-hole, they suddenly detect the presence of 

 danger. As I have stated, the party is a family 

 one, and may consist of one or both parents and 

 any number of piglings from three to eight or 

 ten, consisting, in the latter case, of two different 

 litters. At the first alarm, haste to gain their 

 feet is so great that a second or two passes before 

 this position is reached — a delay quite long 

 enough to entail serious consequences in the case 

 of attack by a leopard or other fiesh-eating 

 prowler. After a moment spent in scrutinising 

 the surroundings, whilst they stand with mane 



