168 



MAMMALIA. 



bush or tree, and makes a most vigorous resistance. Those 

 hounds which aiDproach too closely are frequently rij)ped up. 

 But there is always found, in a well-trained pack, some intelligent 

 and knowing member, which keeps baying the game at a safe 

 distance, and confuses the boar with its ferocious barking until 

 a favourable moment occurs, when, with a bound, it seizes the 

 game at its weak point — the ear. The furious animal is then 

 what is caUed coiffe. It has lost all power, and is conquered. A 



Fig. 39.— Wild Boar at bay. 



bullet from one of the sportsmen or a blow from a cutlass soon 

 after puts an end to its existence. 



Firing upon it as it leaves cover, driven out by strong dogs, is 

 the method generally adopted for himting the Wild Boar in 

 France and Germany. In other lands the sportsmen secrete 

 themselves at night, within shot of a vineyard, a clump of oak 

 trees, or a pond, which the animals are in the habit of visiting, 

 and shoot them on their appearance. 



"V\Tien taken young, the Wild Boar is susceptible of a certain 



