THE COLLARED PECCARY. 
57 
indispensable ; the filthy and disgusting smell emitted 
by the fluid which is secreted by the gland in large 
quantities, furnishing of itself a sufficient and to any 
sensible nostril a perfectly satisfactory indication of its 
existence. 
The Peccaries resemble the Common Hog not more 
in their form and structure than in their habits, dispo- 
sition, and propensities. Their gait is almost precisely 
similar ; they burrow in the earth after the same fashion ; 
eat and drink in the same swinish manner ; are fond of 
the same description of food ; elevate their long bristles 
like him when terrified or angry ; breathe with the 
same violent effort ; and express their feelings with the 
same peculiar grunt. They are also equally susceptible 
of domestication ; or perhaps we should rather say 
much more so, if we adopt the Wild Boar of Europe 
as the type of the domesticated race. When taken 
young they readily become habituated to the society 
of man ; take as much delight as our pigs in being 
scratched and scrubbed ; and are speedily reduced to 
a state of complete subservience. They are not, how- 
ever, likely ever to become so useful in the farm-yard, 
for not to speak of their fetid gland, which is said to 
communicate a very disagreeable savour to their flesh 
if not removed immediately after death, the flesh itself 
is decidedly inferior to pork both in flavour and fatness : 
their productiveness also bears no comparison to that 
of the Sow, the female bringing forth but once a year 
and producing no more than two young ones at a birth. 
The experiment of breeding them has, however, we are 
informed, been tried in various parts of the continent 
of South America, and in some of the West India 
Islands ; but we are not aware of the extent to which 
it has succeeded, or whether the project has not been 
altogether laid aside. 
Both the species of this group appear to be more or 
