Page:The Hog.djvu/45

43 and irritation produced by the state of confinement, and often filth, in which she is kept, and the disturbances to which she is subjected, than from any actual ferocity: for it is well known that a sow is always unusually irritable at this period, snapping at all animals that approach her. If she is gently treated, properly supplied with sustenance, and sequestered from all annoyance, there is little danger of this ever happening."

Roots and fruits are the natural food of the hog, in a wild as well as in a domesticated state; and it is evident that, however omnivorous this animal may occasionally appear, its palate is by no means insensible to the difference of eatables, for whenever it finds variety it will be found to select the best with as much cleverness as other quadrupeds. "In the peach-tree orchards of North America," says Pennant, "where hogs have plenty of delicious food, they have been observed to neglect the fruit that has lain a few hours upon the ground, and patiently wait for a considerable time for a fresh windfall." According to Linnæus, the hog is more nice in the selection of his vegetable diet than any of our other domesticated herbivorous animals. This great naturalist states that—

They are gifted with an exquisite sense of smell as well as touch, residing in the snout, and this enables them to discover roots, acorns, earth-nuts, or other delicacies suitable to their palates, which may be buried in the ground.

In some parts of Italy swine are employed in hunting for truffles, that grow some inches below the surface of the soil, and form those pickles and sauces so highly esteemed by epicures. A pig is driven into a field, and there suffered to pursue his own course. Wherever he stops and begins to root with his nose, truffles will invariably be found.

The last charge which we shall endeavor to refute is that of intractability. All the offences which swine commit are attributed to an innately bad disposition; whereas they too often arise solely from bad management or total neglect. Would horses or cattle behave one iota better, were they treated as pigs too often are? They are legitimate objects for the sport of idle boys, hunted with dogs, pelted with stones, often neglected and obliged to find a meal for themselves, or wander about half-starved. Can we wonder that, under such circumstances, they should be wild, unmanageable brutes? Look at the swine in a well-regulated farm-yard—they are as