The effect of domestication on the larger animals seems to be a
diminution of their powers of resistance or defence, no longer
necessary to their safety; and, on account of the want of free
exercise, an increase of size, attended by a relaxation of the fibres
and frame of the body. In this way, domestication has told with
considerable disadvantage on the hog. By the diminution of the size of
its tusks, and of its inclination or power to use them, it ceases to be
very formidable; and by luxurious habits, by overfeeding, and
indolence, the animal that fearlessly ranges the forest becomes one
whose sole delight it seems to be to rise to eat, and to lie down to
digest, and one whose external appearance, beyond that of any other
quadruped, testifies the gluttony of its disposition and of its
practices. The hog uses considerable selection in its vegetable diet,
but it compensates itself for the loss which its appetite might thus
sustain, by occasional recourse to animal food.
_Miscellaneous Anecdotes._--The following statement, made a few years
ago by a gentleman in Stanbridge, England, develops the carnivorous
propensities which the hog sometimes discovers, even in a condition of
perfect domestication,--the variety too of animals which it is inclined
to devour. "I had a pig," says this writer, "of the Chinese species, a
most voracious fellow; but through necessity I have lately been obliged
to have him killed, finding that he endangered the safety of my
rabbits, hens, and ducks. Previous to possessing him, I had a small
warren of about forty yards square, walled in, and well stocked with
various-colored rabbits, which I had been at infinite pains to collect.
But, unfortunately, one day a rabbit having intruded into his sty, the
pig immediately caught and devoured it. This having given him an
opportunity of knowing the agreeable flavor of rabbit, he next day,
when let out, directed his course to the warren, and soon was
successful in securing another; he then returned to his sty, and
consumed it with the greatest avidity.
"After this circumstance occurred, he was confined three weeks; but
being again set at liberty, he immediately returned to his favorite
pursuit, and, after trying various manoeuvres for the space of a
quarter of an hour he seized another rabbit, and was returning, when I
ordered my servant to take it away. Unluckily for the servant, the pig,
after trying many devices to get by him, crouched for a moment, and
then, running furiously at him, seized on his leg, lacerating it so
severely, that he was confined to the house for six weeks. So greedy
was the pig, that, while the man was limping towards the house, he
actually went back to his prey, and carried it off victoriously.
"Being at a party the next day, and relating the above, a gentleman in
company appeared to doubt the veracity of the account. I asked him,
with the rest of the party, to dine with me the following day, that
they might witness the exploits of the creature. They all attended at
an early hour. No sooner had we released him, than off he went with the
most voracious eagerness, and entered the warren through a hole in the
wall; but he was not quite so successful to-day, for, after making many
fruitless attempts, most of the rabbits were driven to their burrows.
He now seemed as we supposed, despairing of success, as he lay down
amongst some furze; but, on our returning to the house, we were
surprised by the cry of his victim, and, immediately turning round, saw
him coming through the hole in the wall with a fine black rabbit. The
gentleman who doubted the facts over-night nearly met the fate of my
servant; but by actively springing over him, at the moment the furious
animal was seizing his legs, he escaped unhurt. After showing his
dexterity to many more gentlemen, I devised means to keep him out of
the warren. The carnivorous animal then took to my ducks and hens.
Still, however, I put up with his depredations while he confined
himself to my own yard; but having visited a neighbor's, and killed two
ducks and a favorite Guinea-hen, and much frightened the lady who went
to drive him away, I was obliged to kill him the next morning."
A gamekeeper of Sir Henry Mildmay, of England, broke a black sow to
find game, back, and stand to her point, nearly as steadily as a
well-bred dog. The sow was a thin, long-legged animal, of the New
Forest breed. When young, she manifested a great partiality for some
pointer puppies; and it occurred to the gamekeeper, that, as he had
often succeeded with obstinate dogs, he might attempt to break a pig.
He enticed her to follow him by bits of barley-meal pudding, which he
carried in one of his pockets, while the other was filled with stones,
which he threw at his pupil when she misbehaved, as she would not allow
herself to be caught and corrected, like a dog. Under this system she
proved tolerably tractable. When she came on the cold scent of game,
she slackened her trot, and gradually dropped her ears and tail till
she was certain, and then fell down on her knees. As soon as the game
rose, she returned, grunting, for her reward of pudding.
When the gamekeeper died, his widow sent the pig to Sir Henry Mildmay,
who kept it for three years, and often amused his friends by hiding a
fowl among the fern in some part of the park, and bringing out the pig,
which never failed to point at it in the manner described. Some time
after, a great number of lambs were lost nearly as soon as they were
dropped; and a person, being sent to watch the flock, detected the sow
in the act of devouring a lamb. This carnivorous propensity was
ascribed to her having been accustomed to feed with the dogs on flesh;
but it obliterated the memory of her singular sagacity, and she was
killed for the benefit of the widow of the gamekeeper who had trained
her.