HABITS OF THE COWS. 203 



There is little fighting among the females; still 

 one is occasionally gored, and sufficient trials of strength 

 occur to decide the question of mastership. Michie 

 believes that the "order of precedency" is quite recog- 

 nised, and that every cow knows her own place quite as 

 well as do more high-born dames. The period of ges- 

 tation has never been clearly ascertained ; but it seems 

 singular — though nevertheless an undoubted fact — that 

 the cows calve in every month of the year, frequently 

 in January and February, and often when the snow is 

 on the ground. I could not discover that any instance 

 was known of their producing twins ; certainly no such 

 case has occurred of late years. The cows conceal their 

 calves in the long grass or fern, and, as has been shown, 

 defend them with the greatest ferocity; while the newly- 

 born animal itself shows its instinctive wildness by 

 crouching quietly in its hiding-place, like the hare 

 when she nestles in her form. It has been said by the 

 old authorities that this concealment of the calf lasts 

 " for a week or ten days," the cow, in the meantime, 

 going to suckle the calf two or three times a day. 

 This is in the main correct, but the calf does not appear 

 to be hidden for near so long a time as was supposed. 

 Michie, the present keeper — a very shrewd and in- 

 telligent man, of great observation — informs me that 

 " when a cow calves " (I give his own words) " she 

 chooses a secluded place to drop her calf, and rejoins 

 the herd the next and every succeeding morning, re- 

 turning to it at night and at other times to suckle it. 

 The cow introduces the calf to the herd on the third or 

 fourth day ; and I have never known but one case in 

 which the cow was five days before she brought the 

 calf into the herd. 



