demesnes was
punished with the loss of his eyes.

In many parts of the Continent the wild boar is still far from rare, and
affords, to those who are fond of excitement, that peculiar kind of
"pleasure" which involves a certain amount of danger. Scenes somewhat
similar to those depicted by Snyders may still be witnessed in some
parts of Germany; and in the sketches of Mr Wolf, the able artist whose
designs illustrate these papers, we have seen animated studies of this
truly hazardous sport.

The nose of the wild boar is very acute in the sense of smell. A zealous
sportsman tells us, "I have often been surprised, when stealing upon one
in the woods, to observe how soon he has become aware of my
neighbourhood. Lifting his head, he would sniff the air inquiringly,
then, uttering a short grunt, make off as fast as he could."[196] The
same writer has also sometimes noticed in a family of wild boars one,
generally a weakling, who was buffeted and ill-treated by the rest. "Do
what he would, nothing was right; sometimes the mother, uttering a
disapproving grunt, would give him a nudge to make him move more
quickly, and that would be a sign for all the rest of his relations to
begin showing their contempt for him too. One would push him, and then
another; for, go where he might, he was sure to be in the way." In the
extensive woods frequented by this animal in Europe, abundant supplies
of food are met with in the roots of various plants which it grubs up,
in the beech-mast, acorns, and other tree productions, which, during two
or three months of the year, it finds on the ground. Although well able
to defend itself, it is a harmless animal, and being shy, retires to
those parts of the forests most remote from the presence of man. A site
in the neighbourhood of water is preferred to any other.

Travellers in the East frequently refer to this animal and to its
ravages when it gets into a rice-field or a vineyard; for although its
natural food be wild roots and wild fruits, if cultivated grounds be in
the neighbourhood, its ravages are very annoying to the husbandmen, who
can fully and feelingly understand the words of the Psalmist, "The boar
out of the wood doth waste it" (Ps. lxxx. 13).

Messrs Irby and Mangles,[197] as they approached the Jordan, saw a herd
of nine wild pigs, and they found the trees on the banks of a stream
near that river all marked with mud, left by the wild swine in rubbing
themselves. A valley which they