As there are always so many of these pigs round about inhabited places
and cultivated fields, constant care is required, for they instantly
discover an opening. From their habit of haunting the thickets and bush
which come up to the verge of the enclosures, they have obtained the
name of thorn-hogs. Some reach an immense size, and they are very
prolific, so that it is impossible to destroy them. The boars are fierce
at a particular season, but never attack unless provoked to do so. But
when driven to bay they are the most dangerous of the boars, on account
of their vast size and weight. They are of a sluggish disposition, and
will not rise from their lairs unless forced to do so.

The next kind is the white hog, which has much the same habits as the
former, except that it is usually found in moist places, near lakes and
rivers, and is often called the marsh-pig. The third kind is perfectly
black, much smaller in size, and very active, affording by far the best
sport, and also the best food when killed. As they are found on the
hills where the ground is somewhat more open, horses can follow freely,
and the chase becomes exciting. By some it is called the hill-hog, from
the locality it frequents. The small tusks of the black boar are used
for many ornamental purposes.

These three species are considered to be the descendants of the various
domestic pigs of the ancients, but the fourth, or grey, is thought to be
the true wild boar. It is seldom seen, but is most common in the
south-western forests, where, from the quantity of fern, it is called
the fern-pig. This kind is believed to represent the true wild boar,
which was extinct, or merged in the domestic hog among the ancients,
except in that neighbourhood where the strain remained.