44 



WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



United States the birth is considerably later. The 

 period of gestation, according to observations in 

 zoological gardens, varies from ninety-one to ninety- 

 seven days. The kittens are brought forth among 

 the mountains in some den beneath overhanging 

 rocks; but in flat countries the mother secretes 

 herself inside a dense thicket or cane-brake, where 

 she prepares a bed of sticks and leaves. Four or 

 five kittens may come at a birth, but usually only 

 two or three; and Merriam thinks that in the East, 

 at least, many more females are born than males. 

 At first, as has been hinted, these kittens are 

 covered with black spots and stripes, and the tail 

 is ringed. Bonavia makes merry over the puzzled 

 mind of the young father, when he beholds these 

 varicolored offspring, and pictures the conjugal 

 anxiety of the mother to convince her suspicious 

 spouse that it is all right. The markings mostly 

 'disappear by the end of six months, but obscure 

 reminders of them remain several months longer, 

 and now and then are never quite outgrown. 

 William A. Conklin, late keeper of the Central Park 

 Menagerie, in New York, noted, from much ex- 

 perience with them, that the kittens opened their 

 eyes after eight or nine days, cut their front teeth 

 in eighteen or twenty days, and were weaned when 

 three months old. The cubs do not become well- 

 grown before the end of the second year, and dur- 

 ing most of this time associate with the mother, 

 who is valiant in their defence ; and if we may 



