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wild boar (sus scrofa; var. aper) is generally admitted to be the parent of the stock from which all our domesticated breeds and varieties have sprung. This animal is generally of a dusky brown or iron-gray color, inclining to black, and diversified with black spots or streaks. The body is covered with coarse hairs, intermixed

THE WILD BOAR.

with a downy wool; these hairs become bristles as they approach the neck and shoulders, and are here so long as to form a species of mane, which the animal erects when irritated. The head is short, the forehead broad and flat, the ears short, rounded at the tips and inclined towards the neck, the jaw armed with sharp crooked tusks