GES 



GTO 



TABLE SHOWING THE PERIOD OF REPRODUCTION AND GESTATION IN DOMESTIC 



ANIMALS. 



Kinds of Animals. 



Maro 



Stallion 



Cow 



Bull. 



Ewe 



Tup. 



Sow. 



Boar 



She Goat 



lie Goat 



She Ass 



He Ass 



She Buflfa: 



Bitch 



Dog. 



She Cat 



He Cat 



Doe Rabbit 



Buck Rabbit 



Cock 



Turkey, sitting- i Hen 

 on the eggs of > Duck 

 the ) Turkey 



Hen, sitting on the ( Duck 

 eggs of the \ Hen 



Duck . . . . 



Goose . . . . 



Pigeon . . . . 



Proper Age 



for Itepro- 



ductiun. 



4 years 

 5 



3 



3- — - 



2 



2 



1 



2 



2 



4 



5 



2 



2 



1 



6 months 



I'eriod of the 

 Power r)f Ke- 

 production. 



Years. 



10 to 12 



12 to 15 



10 to 14 



8 to 10 



6 



7 



6 



6 



6 



5 

 10 to 12 

 12 to 15 



8 to 9 



8 to 9 

 5 to 6 



9 to 10 

 5 to 6 

 5 to fi 

 5 to 6 



3 to 5 



Number of 

 Keni.iley for 

 one Male. 



20 to 30 



30 to 40 



40 to 50 



6 to 10 



Period of Gestation and Incubation. 



Shortest 

 Period. 



Mean 

 Period. 



Longest 

 Period. 



Davs. I J)av^. 



322 347 



240 



146 



109 



150 



365 



281 

 55 



48 



20 



17 

 24 

 24 

 26 

 19 

 28 

 27 

 16 



283 

 154 

 115 

 156 



380 



308 

 60 



50 



28 



24 



27 

 26 

 30 

 21 

 30 

 30 

 18 



I 



Days. 



419 



321 



161 



143 



163 



391 



335 

 63 



56 



35 



28 

 30 

 30 

 34 

 24 

 32 

 33 

 20 



" From some carefully collected and 

 very extensive notes made by Lord 

 Spencer on the periods of gestation 

 of 764 cows, it resulted that the 

 shortest period of gestation when a 

 live calf was produced was 220 days, 

 and the longest 313 days; but he 

 was not able to rear any calf pro- 

 duced at an earlier period than 242 



days. From the result of his ex- 

 periments, it appears that 314 cows 

 calved before the 284th day, and 310 

 calved after the 285th, so that the 

 probable period of gestation ought to 

 be considered 284 or 285 days. The 

 experiments of M. Teissier on the 

 gestation of cows are recorded to 

 have given the following results : 



21 calved between the 240th and 270th day, the mean time being 259J 

 544 — — 270th and 299th — — 262 



10 — — 299th and 321st — — 303 



" In most cases, therefore, between 

 nine and ten months may be assumed 

 as the usual period ; though, with a 

 bull calf, the cow has been generally 

 observed to go about 41 weeks, and 

 a few days less with a female. Any 

 calf produced at an earlier period 

 than 260 days must be considered 

 decidedly premature, and any period 

 of gestation exceeding 300 days must 

 also be considered irregular ; but in 

 this latter case the health of the 

 produce is not affected. I will con- 

 clude this article with the remarks 

 of Mr. C. Hilliard, of Northampton, 

 who states that the period of gesta- 



224 



tion of a cow is 284 days, or, as it is 

 said, nine calendar months and nine 

 days ; the ewe 20 weeks ; the sow 

 16 weeks ; the mare 1 1 months. The 

 well-bred cattle of the present time 

 appear to me to bring forth twins 

 more frequently than the cattle did 

 50 years ago. The males of all ani- 

 mals, hares, excepted, are larger than 

 the females. Castrated male cattle 

 become larger beasts than entire 

 males." — {Blaine's Encyc.) 



GIBBOSE. Irregular, humped. 



GIBBOUS. Protuberant, convex. 



GIG. A well-known kind of light 

 carriage drawn by one horse. Gigs, 



