BOAR, a term in the manege. A horse is said to boar when he shoots out his nose as high as his ears, and tosses his nose in the wind.

Boar, a male swine. See Mammalia.

The wild boar, among huntsmen, has several names, according to his different ages. The first year he is called a P⅛t o f ^ ιe saunder; the second, a hog; the third, a hogsteer; and the fourth, a hoar. When leaving the saunder, he is called a singler or sangler. The boar generally lives to the age of twenty-five or thirty years, if he escapes accidents. The time of rutting is in December, and lasts about three weeks. Wild boars feed on all sorts of fruits, and on the roots of many plants; the root of fern in particular seems a favourite with them; and when they frequent places near the sea-coast, they descend to the shores, and demolish the tenderer shell-fish in very great numbers. Their general places of rest are among the thickest bushes that can be found; and they are not easily induced to break cover, but will stand at bay a long time. In April and May they sleep more soundly than at any other time of the year; and this is therefore the successful time for taking them in the toils. When a boar is roused out of the thicket, he always goes from it, if possible, the same way by which he entered it; and when he is once up, he will never stop till he reach some place of greater security. If a saunder of them be found together, when any one breaks away, the rest follow in the same track. When the boar is hunted in the wood where he has been bred, he can scarcely ever be brought to quit it; sometimes indeed he makes towards the sides to listen to the noise of the dogs, but he retires into the middle again, and usually dies or escapes there. When a boar happens to run a-head, he will not be stopped or put out of his way by man or beast, as long as he has any strength left. He makes no doubles or crossings when chased; and, if old, utters no sound when killed, though the sows and pigs will squeak when wounded. At his full strength he is one of the most resolute and courageous of animals. His prevailing impulse is to close with his antagonist. When fairly at bay he never shrinks from any contest, however unequal; and, although mortally wounded, he will nevertheless maintain the combat with the most unflinching bravery to the last.

The season for hunting the wild boar begins in September, and ends in December, when they go to rut. If he be large, and have lain long at rest, he must be hunted with a great number of dogs, and these such as will keep close to him; and the huntsman, with his spear, should always be riding in among them, and charging the boar as.often as he can, to discourage him; for such a boar as this, with five or six couple of dogs, will make to the first convenient place of shelter, and there stand at bay and attack them as they attempt to come up with him. There ought also to be relays of the best and staunchest hounds in the kennel; for if they are young eager dogs, they will be apt to seize him, and be killed or spoiled before the rest come up. The putting collars with bells about-the dogs’ necks is a great security for them; for the boar will not readily strike at them when so provided, but will rather avoid them. The huntsmen generally kill the boar with their swords or spears; but great caution is necessary in making the blows; for he is very apt to catch them on his snout or with his tusks, and if wounded and not killed, he will attack the huntsman in the most furious manner. The wound with the spear should, if possible, be given between the eyes in the middle of the forehead, or in the shoulder; in either place a wound is almost certain to prove mortal.

When this creature makes at the hunter there is nothing for it but courage and address. If the boar comes straight up, he is to be received at the point of the spear; but if he makes doubles and windings, he is to be watched very cautiously; for he will attempt getting hold of the spear in his mouth; and if he does so, nothing can save the huntsman but another person attacking him behind. In this case he will attack the second person; upon which the first, being disengaged, must renew the onset. Two persons will thus have enough to do with him; and were it not for the forks of the boar-spears that make it impossible to press forward upon them, the huntsman who gives the creature his death-wound would seldom escape falling a sacrifice to his revenge. The modern way of boarhunting is generally to dispatch the creature by all the huntsmen striking him at once; but the ancient Roman method was, for a person on foot, armed with a spear, to keep the creature at bay, in which case the boar would run of himself upon the spear to come at the huntsman, and push forward till the weapon pierced him through.

The hinder claws of a boar are called guards. In the corn he is said to feed; in the meadows or fallow-fields, to rout, worm, or fern; in a close, to graze. The boar is farrowed with his full complement of teeth, which afterwards increase in size, but not in number. Amongst these there are four called tushes or tusks, the two largest of which do not hurt when he strikes, but serve only to whet the other two, with which the beast defends himself, and frequently kills his assailant.