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48 follows the sow, and all unite in defence against any enemies, calling upon each other with loud cries in case of emergency, and forming in regular line of battle, the weakest occupying the rear. But when arrived at maturity, the animals wander alone, as if in perfect consciousness of their strength, and appear as if they neither sought nor avoided any living creature. They are said to live about thirty years; as they grow old the hair becomes gray, and the tusks begin to show symptoms of decay. Old boars are rarely found associating with a herd, but seem to keep apart from the rest, and from each other.

The female produces but one litter in the year, and her litters are much smaller in number than those of the domestic pig; she carries her young sixteen or twenty weeks, and generally is only seen with the male during the rutting season. She suckles her young for several months, and continues to protect them for some time after wards; if attacked then, she will defend herself and them with exceeding courage and fierceness. Many sows will often be found herding together, each followed by her litter of young ones, and in such parties they are exceedingly formidable to man and beast. Neither they nor the boar, however, appear to want to attack any thing, but only when roused by aggression, or disturbed in their retreat, do they turn upon their enemies and manifest their mighty strength with which nature has endowed them, otherwise they pursue their way in a kind of solitary savage majesty. Occasionally when two males encounter each other, a fierce and furious battle will ensue, especially if this happens during the rutting season, when their passions are inflamed. When attacked by dogs, the wild boar at first sullenly retreats, turning upon them from time to time, and menacing them with his tusks; but gradually his ire rises, and at length he stands at bay, fights furiously for his life, and tears and rends his persecutors. He has even been observed to single out the most tormenting of them, and rush savagely upon him.

Hunting the wild boar has been a favorite sport, in almost all the countries in which this animal was found, from the earliest ages. In all the ancient Grecian and Roman classical writers, some allusions to this animal will be found. Homer, whose vivid portraitures of the actions and habits of princes and warriors nearly thirty years ago, are known to almost every scholar, again and again refers to this savage denizen of the forests, nor can we deny ourselves the pleasure of extracting the following graphic lines:—

Soon as the morn, new roll'd in purple light, Pierc'd with her golden shafts the rear of night, Ulysses, and his brave maternal race The young Antolici, assay the chase; Parnassus, thick perplex'd with horrid shades, With deep-mouthed hounds the hunter troop invades;