alight upon their horns when jumping down precipices. They post sentinels and are very wary. There is also a native goat, a white species, living high on the Rocky Mountains near the snow. They are rather stupid animals. The bison once roamed in herds of countless thousands, but, with the exception of a few protected in parks, it is now extinct. Its shaggy hide was useful to man in winter, so it has been well-nigh destroyed. For gain man is led to exterminate elephants, seals, rodents, armadillos, whales, birds, deer, mussels, lobsters, forests, etc.
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Fig. 393.—Peccary (Dicotyles torquatus) of Texas and Mexico. × 1/12. Our only native hog is the peccary, found in Texas (Fig. 393). In contrast with the heavy domestic hog, it is slender and active. It is fearless, and its great tusks are dangerous weapons. The swine are the only ungulates that are not strictly vegetable feeders. The habit of fattening in summer was useful to wild hogs, since snow hid most of their food in winter. The habit has been preserved under domestication. Are the small toes of the hog useless? Are the "dew claws" of cattle useless? Will they probably become larger or smaller? Order?
