TRIPLET CALVES. 275 



was black instead of dark red as is usual for the pure bred 

 Hereford. He was an ordinary bull presenting no noteworthy 

 characteristics of any kind. The owner stated to the writer 

 that this bull had usually been prepotent in the matter of mark- 

 ing his calves. What this presumably meant, however, was 

 that the calves of his get were in most cases white faced. This 

 is probably to be regarded merely as an expression of the fact 

 that Hereford White face is dominant in the Mendelian sense 

 over most other types of coloration of the head region found in 

 cattle." 



The sire was a relatively young bull. Particular inquiry was 

 made when he was examined as to whether he had been known 

 to get twin or triplet calves with relatively high frequency. 

 The owner stated that this was distinctly not the case; that 

 during the period this bull had been heading his herd twin 

 calves had occurred, but not more frequently than was in gen- 

 eral to be expected in breeding an equal number of cows. 

 I was not able to obtain a photograph of the sire. 



The dam of the triplets was a grade Guernsey, in conforma- 

 tion and color typical of the breed. She was born in 1900, and 

 was, therefore, about 7 years old at the time the triplets were 

 born. She bore her first calf when 2 years old. Her color 

 was a light yellowish fawn splashed with white. She had a 

 wbite triangle on the forehead and bands of white over the 

 shoulders and rump. vShe was not a large cow even for a 

 Guernsey. Some idea of her general conformation and color 

 pattern may be gained from Fig. 448. Mr. Walter purchased 

 the cow after acquiring the calves and states that she has 

 proved to be a very good cow from the milking standpoint. 

 It is of interest to note that this cow has two posterior, very 

 small, supernumerary mammae. It is, of course, impossible to 

 say whether this occurrence of supernumerary mammae is 

 directly connected with the high degree of fecundity exhibited 

 by this cow (see nejit section), but this may fairly be regarded 

 as probably the case because of the fact that these two things 

 are known to be associated in other forms. For example this is 

 so in the sheep which Dr. Alexander Graham Bell" is breeding 



^"Cf. Spillman, W. J. Report of Committee on Hybridizing Animals. 

 Rept. Amer. Breeder's Assoc. Vol. Ill, pp. 184-189, 1907. 



"Bell. A. G. Sheep-Breeding- Experiments on Beinn Breagh. Science. 

 N. S. Vol. 36, pp. 378-384. 1912. 



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