192 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



seven feet five inches in girth. Its weight was eight hundred 

 and fifteen pounds. These limits have, however, often been 

 exceeded, a hog bred in Cheshire measuring nine feet eight 

 inches including tail, and standing four feet six inches in 

 height. This animal weighed 1,215 pounds when killed. 

 Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, and Yorkshire have all fine 

 breeds which supply the larders of the United Kingdom with 

 prime bacon. The sucking pig has been deemed a dainty 

 dish even from Roman times. The babiroussa belongs to 

 Bouru and Celebes, and is gregarious. Its habits are similar 

 to those of the wild hog, which the male rivals and even 

 surpasses in size. It has tusks attached to both the upper 

 and the lower jaw, which bend backwards with a graceful curve. 



The Peooary. The Peccary belongs to South America where 

 it is indigenous. There are two species, the Collared Peccary 

 and the White-lipped Peccary. The collared peccary is a 

 timid, inoffensive animal about three feet long, and distin- 

 guished by white bands which traverse the shoulders and 

 meet at the neck. They associate in pairs or sniall families 

 and live in holes and hollows. The white-lipped peccary 

 herds in large numbers, migrating apparently in regu]ar order 

 in companies sometimes a thousand strong. These animals 

 are very fierce when attacked, and the hunter has little chance 

 of escaping them unless he can find shelter in a friendly 

 tree. Many stories are told of hunters who have sought 

 such asylum, and who have been kept treed many hours 

 by peccaries who, regardless of the mortality of their com- 

 rades, have lingered round the trunk. 



The Camel and The history of the Camel carries us back 

 the Dromedary, to the age of the great patriarchs, and gives 

 him some claim to be regarded as a patriarch himself. He 

 belongs to Egypt and Arabia, where he is indispensable to the 

 desert ranger, and where no longer found in a wild state, 

 he takes rank as a domestic animal. His uses are several. 

 As a beast of burden he is invaluable, while the milk of the 



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