BOA 



BOA 



deer, and tlie claws of birds have been found (licking in 

 tbcir ftomacb, but this may be from neceffity. Yet they are 

 fond of bluod, iince they will eat their own young, or even 

 children in the cradle, according to BufTon. " Wild boars 

 (lays this writer) do not feparate from their mothers until 

 the third vear, and till that age are called by the hunters 

 ftock bealts, or b.afto of company. I'Tiey never wander 

 alone till they have acquired fuffitient ftrengtli to refift the 

 attacks of the wolf. Thefe animals, when they have young, 

 forfii a kind of flo.-ks, and it i-; upon this alone their fafety 

 depends. When attacked, the largeft and ilrongeft. front 

 the enemy, and by preffing all round againft the weaker, 

 force them into the centre. Domeftic hogs are alfo obftrved 

 to defend themfelvts in a fimilar manner. The wild boar is 

 hunted with dogs, oi killed by furprife during the night 

 when the moon fliincs. As he flits flowly, leaves a ftrong 

 odour behind him, i.nd defends himfclf againft the dogs, 

 and often wounds them dangeroufly, fine luinting dogs are 

 tmnecclTary, and would have their nofe fpoiled, and acquire 

 a habit of moving flowly, by hunting him. Mailiff's, vi'ith 

 very little training, are fufficient. The oldeft boars, which 

 are known by the track of tl.'eir feet, fliould alone be hunted : 

 a young boar of three years is difiicult to be attacked, be- 

 caiife he runs very far without Hopping ; but the old boars 

 do not run far, allow the dogs to come near, and often ftop 

 to repel them. During the day, the boar commonly keeps 

 in his foil, which is the moft fequefiered part of the woods, 

 and comes out by night in queft of food; and in fummer, 

 when the grain is ripe, it is eafy to furprife him among the 

 cultivated fields, wliieh he frequents evei-y night. 



The boar lives to twenty-five or thirty years, if he 

 efcapcs accidents. The time of going to rut is in De- 

 cember, and lads about three weeks. They feed on 

 all forts of fruits, and on the roots of many plants ; the 

 root of fern, in particular, feems a great favourite with 

 them ; and when they frequent places near the fea-coail, 

 they will defcend to the fliores, and demolifh flielliilh. Their 

 general places of reft are among the thickeft bufties that can 

 be found, and they are not eafily put out ot them, but will 

 ftand the bay a long time. In April and May they fleep 

 more foundly than at any other time of the year, and this is 

 therefore the fuccefsful time for taking them in the toils. 

 When a boa.r is roufed out of the thicket, he always goes 

 from it, if poflible, the fame way by which he came to it ; 

 and when he is once up, he will never ftop till he comes to 

 fome place of greater fecurity. If it happens that ?i founder 

 of them are found together, when any one breaks away, the 

 reft will follow the fame way. When the boar is h'lnted in 

 the wood where he was bred, he will fcarce ever be brought 

 to quit it ; he will fcmetimcs make towards the fides, to 

 lillen to the noife of the dogs, but retires into the middle 

 again, and ufually dies or efcapes there. When it happens 

 that a boar runs a-head, he will not be flopped or put out 

 of his way by man or beaft, fo long as he has ftrength left. 

 He makes no doubles or croilin;;';, when chafed ; and when 

 killed, makes no noife, if an old boar ; but the fows and 

 pigs will fqueak when wounded. 



The fealon for hunting the boar begins in September, and 

 ends in December, when they go to rut. If it be a large 

 boar, and one that has lain long at reft, he muft be hunted 

 with a great number of dogs, and thofe fuch as will keep 

 clofe to him ; and the huntfman, with liis fpear, fliould al- 

 ways be riding in among them, and charging the boar as 

 often as he can, to difcourage him. Such a boar as this, 

 with five or fix couple of dogs, will run to the firft conve- 

 nient place of flicker, and there ftand at bay, and make 

 at them as they attempt to corae up withiijm. There oucht 



Vol. IV. 



always to be relays alfo fet for the beft and ftauncheft 

 hounds in the kennel ; for if they are of young eager dogs, 

 they will be apt to feize him, and be killed or fpoik'd, before 

 the reft come up. The putting of collars with bells about 

 the dogs' necks is a pjreat fecurity for them ; for the boar 

 will not fo foon ftrike at them when they have thefe, but 

 will rather run before them. The huntfmen generally kill 

 the boar with their fwords or fpears ; but great caution is 

 neceflary in making the blows, for he is very apt to catch 

 them upon his fnout, or tufl<, and, if v/ounded and not 

 killed, he will attack the huntfman in the moft furious man- 

 ner. The places in which the wound is to be given with 

 the fpear, are either between the eyes in the middle of the 

 fort- head, or in the fhoulders ; both thefe places make the 

 wound mortal. When this creature makes at the hunter, 

 his fafety confifts merely in courage and addrefs ; if he flies 

 for it, he is furely overtaken and killed ; if the boar comes 

 ftraight up, he is to be received at the point of the fpear; 

 but if he makes doubles and windings, he is to be watched 

 very cautioudy, for he will attempt getting hold of the fpear 

 in his mouth, and if he does fo, nothing can fave the huntf- 

 man but another perfon's attacking him behind. He will, 

 on this, attack the fecond perfon, and the firft muft then 

 attack him again. Two people will thus have enough to 

 do with him ; and were it not for the forks of the boar- 

 fpears, that make it impoflible to prefs forward upon them, 

 the huntfmsn, who gives the creature his death's wound, 

 would feldoin efcape falling a facrifice to his revenge 

 for it. 



The modern way of boar-hunting is generally to difpatch 

 the creature by all the huntfmen ftriking him at once ; but 

 the ancient Roman way was for a perfon on foot, armed 

 with a fpear, to keep the creature at bay ; and in this cafe 

 the boar would run of himfelf upon the fpear to come at the 

 huntfman, and pufli forward till the fpear pierced him 

 through. 



The hinder claws of a boar are called guards. In the 

 corn he is faid lo feed ; in the meadows or fallow-fields, to 

 rout, 'worm, or fern ; and in a clofe, to graze. The boar 

 is farrowed with as many teeth as he will ever have ; his 

 teeth increafing only in bignefs, not in number. Among 

 thefe there are four called tufhes, or tulles, the two biggeft 

 of which are of no ufe to him when he ftrikes, ferving only 

 to whet the two loweft, which are his moft formidable wea- 

 pons of defence. As the boar advances in age, he becomes 

 Icfs dangerous, on account of the growth of thofe tu&s, 

 which turn up, or take fuch a curvature, as rather to im- 

 pede than alfift him in wounding his adverfarv. The Ethio- 

 pian boar, or hog, is a ftill more fierce and dangerous ani- 

 mal than the kind found in Europe. In habits and manners 

 they are pretty much the fame, although fpecifically diff^er- 

 ent ; and, like the common boar, is capable of inflifting the 

 moft tremendous wounds with its tuflcs. 



The flelh of the boar was eftt.?med a delicacy among the 

 ancient Romans ; a boar ferved up whole was a difti of llate. 

 The boar was fometimes alfo the military enfign borne by 

 the Roman armies, in lieu of the eagle. Certaia writers of 

 modern date fpeak of the flefli being imwholefome, except 

 to thofe of athletic conftitutions. 



A remarkable circumftance concerning the wild boar is 

 related by Sonnini. In the year 1787, an animal of this 

 kind, of a moft extraordinary lize, was killed in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cognac, in Angoumois, which had many- 

 times efcaped from the hunters, had received many gun- 

 fhot wounds, and had coft the lives of feveral dogs and men 

 each time of attacking him. When this animal was at 

 length (lain, feveral bullets are faid to have been found be- 

 4 P tweea 



