

112 



INCREASED FERTILITY 



Chap. XVI. 



down to lowland pastures frequently bear twins. This differ- 

 ence apparently is not due to the cold of the higher land, for 

 sheep and other domestic anin 



als are said 



be extremely 



prolific 



Lapland 



Hard living, 



also, retards the period at 



animals 



for it has been found disadvant 



thern islands of Scotland to allow cows to bear 



r - ^ 



before they are four years old 



30 



Birds offer still better evidence of increased fertility from domestication : 

 the hen of the wild G alius bankiva lays from six to ten eggs, a number 

 which would be thought nothing of with the domestic hen. The wild 

 duck lays from five to ten eggs ; the tame one in the course of the year 

 from eighty to one hundred. The wild grey-lag goose lays from five to 

 eight eggs; the tame from thirteen to eighteen, and she lays a second 

 time ; as Mr. Dixon has remarked, " high-feeding, care, and moderate 

 warmth induce a habit of prolificacy which becomes in some measure 

 hereditary." "Whether the semi-domesticated dovecot pigeon is more 

 fertile than the wild rock-pigeon, G. livia, I know not; but the more 

 thoroughly domesticated breeds are nearly twice as fertile as dovecots : 

 the latter, however, when caged and highly fed, become equally fertile 

 with house pigeons. The peahen alone of domesticated birds is rather 

 more fertile, according to some accounts, when wild in its native Indian 

 home, than when domesticated in Europe and exposed to our much colder 



climate. 31 



With respect to plants, no one would expect wheat to tiller more, and 

 each ear to produce more grain, in poor than in rich soil ; or to get in 

 poor soil a heavy crop of peas or beans. Seeds vary so much in number 



30 For cats and dogs, &c, see Bel- ' British Birds,' vol, v. p. 37; and 'Die 

 lingeri, in ' Annal. des Sc. Nat./ 2nd Enten/ s. 87. For wild geese, L. Lloyd, 

 series, Zoolog., torn. xii. p, 155. For 'Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii. 



ferrets, Bechstein, ' Naturgeschichte 



1854, p 



413 ; and for tame geese 



Deutschlands,' Band i., 1801, s. 786, ' Ornamental Poultry, ' by Kev. E. S. 



795. For rabbits, ditto, s. 1123, 1131 ; Dixon, p. 139. On the breeding of 



and Bronn's ' Gescbichte der Natur,' pigeons, Pistor, ' Das Ganze der Tau- 



B. ii. s. 99. For mountain sheep, ditto, benzucht,' 1831, s. 46 ; and Boitard and 



s. 102. For the fertility of the wild Corbie, ' Les Pigeons,' p. 158. With 



sow, see Bechstein's ' Naturgesch. respect to peacocks, according to Tem- 

 Deutschlands,' B. i., 1801, s. 534; for minck ('Hist. Nat. Gen. des Pigeons,' 

 the domestic 



Pig. 



but according to Jerdon and another 



Sidney's edit, of &c, 1813, torn. ii. p. 41), the hen lays 



Youatt on the Pig, 1860, p. 62. With in India even as many as twenty eggs ; 

 respect to Lapland, see Acerbfs ' Travels 



to the North Cape,' Eng. translat., vol. ii. writer (quoted in Tegetmeier's ' Poultry 



p. 222. About the Highland cows, see Book,' 1866, pp. 280, 282), she there lays 



Hogg on Sheep, p. 263. only from four to nine or ten eggs: in 



31 For the eggs of Gallus bankiva, see England she is i-aid, in the 'Poultry 



Bly th, in ' Annals and Mag. of Nat. Book, ' to lay five or six, but another 



Hist.,' 2nd series, vol. i., 1848, p. 456. writer says from eight to twelve eggs. 

 For wild and tame ducks, Macgillivray, 











