It is true that they (she or he, the females are the most savage) have a nasty knack of giving a sort of jerk with their heads, when fighting or even passing an enemy, and that jerk means to a man the ripping up of his leg from his heel to his thigh, to a dog the tearing open of his entrails.
On one occasion I was out cock shooting, when some shepherds' dogs in a valley adjoining that in which I was walking started a large wild boar, a beast they call a '_solitaire_,' from the fact that he is always seen after a certain time of life alone.

The animal made for a ridge dividing the valleys; on getting there he passed along the sky-line, about eighty yards from where I was.

I changed my cartridges and fired a ball at the pig, who rushed away, apparently unshot; on going to the spot, however, where he had passed when I fired, I found some drops of blood.

This blood I traced for about half a mile, till I came to a large clump of bushes into which my spaniels dashed, evidently close to their game.

I heard a tremendous row in the bushes, had hardly time to prepare when the great beast with his eyes all bloodshot and foaming at the mouth rushed straight at me.