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 
