. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 279 Few men care to face a wart-hog on foot. will be found a most tough and courageous adversary, capable and willing to defend itself stoutly against all foes. "They are," says Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby, who has had much experience in hunting these animals, "expert swimmers and swift of foot, and can get over the roughest ground at a great pace. There is no pluckier beast in Africa than a bush-pig,, and even a leopard will hesitate before attacking a full-grown boar. Like all wild creatures, they have an instinctive dread
. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. THE PIG AND HIPPOPOTAMUS 279 Few men care to face a wart-hog on foot. will be found a most tough and courageous adversary, capable and willing to defend itself stoutly against all foes. "They are," says Mr. F. Vaughan Kirby, who has had much experience in hunting these animals, "expert swimmers and swift of foot, and can get over the roughest ground at a great pace. There is no pluckier beast in Africa than a bush-pig,, and even a leopard will hesitate before attacking a full-grown boar. Like all wild creatures, they have an instinctive dread of man, and will always make their escape from him if possible; but if surrounded or wounded and brought to bay, they appear to accept the situation with stolid imperturbability, and die fighting with rare pluck, against all odds, grim and silent to the last. . Face to face in the middle of a ' fast' bush, and only a Swazi ' stabbing-assegai' with which to kill hini, ... I have seen an old boar, after receiving nine thrusts from those terrible weapons, two of which were still fast in him, make a charge that scattered us like chaff, and in three consecutive lunges lame one of our number for life, and disembowel two of the finest ' pig-dogs' I ever hunted with. In such encounters a boar inflicts terrible wounds with his teeth, as well as with his ; Another bush-pig is found in Madagascar, and is known as Edwards' Bush- PIG. Its habits are very similar to those of its brethren in the neighbouring continent of Africa. The Babirusa Quitting the true pigs, -we come now to perhaps the very strangest and most singular of all the great tribe of swine. This is the Babirusa, that curious and grotesque creature found in the island of Celebes, in the Malay Archipelago. The name Babirusa signifies " pig- ; It is of course a misnomer, and the animal has no kinship whatever with the cervine race. The babi- rusa is a wild swine, having a dark slate-grey skin, very spar
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Keywords: ., bookauthorco, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmammals
