1905.] 



Fertility in Scottish Sheep. 



61 



having properly recovered from the extreme cold in March and April, 1904. 

 This case, therefore, may be regarded as exceptional. The percentage of 

 barren ewes in this flock was six (Table III). 



In the three cases in which the percentage of lambs was over 190 

 the exact numbers were 19L5 per cent., 193 - 7o per cent., and 196 per cent. 



In the first of these the ewes (which were half-bred Cheviot x Border 

 Leicester) were fed on grass only, during the previous summer. For three 

 weeks (during tupping) they were given a full supply of turnips on grass, 

 and between tupping and lambing (five months) they were given a mixture 

 of dried grains and turnips, and " lamb food " for three weeks before lambing. 

 The rams (which were pure Border Leicesters) were given bruised oats during 

 tupping. Xo record was kept of the ages of the ewes. One ewe had four 

 lambs and 12 - 5 per cent, had triplets. 



In the second case the ewes (half-bred) were fed upon Bombay cake, 

 bruised barley and a little linseed as well as turnips and cabbages during 

 tupping (after grass), and some turnips were given during pregnancy. The 

 rams (Border Leicester and Oxford Down) were similarly treated. The ewes 

 were all three-shear. Flushing with turnips was found to bring the ewes in 

 season very rapidly. Triplets were produced by 13 - 5 per cent, of the ewes. 



The third case is recorded under Division E, but ought possibly to have 

 been included under Division C. At tupping time the ewes (which were 

 half-bred) were put upon better pasture, and between tupping and lambing 

 they were given some turnips and as much cut hay as they would eat. 

 Previously to tupping they were fed on grass alone.* The ewes were all ages 

 up to four-shear. The rams (which belonged to the Border Leicester, Oxford 

 Down and Cheviot breeds) were supplied with no artificial food at tupping. 



The twins appear almost invariably to have been born early during lambing 

 time, thus showing that the reproductive activity of the ewes is generally 

 greatest early in the tupping season. Only two returns record that twins 

 were mostly born late, while 28 state that early twins were the rule, both 

 among the artificially fed flocks and those which received no special 

 treatment. 



There is abundant evidence also that flushing hastens forward the tupping 

 time. It has recently been shown that " heat " in animals is almost certainly 

 brought about by an internal secretion elaborated in the ovaries.t It would 

 appear, therefore, that the artificial feeding exercises a stimulating influence 



* Cheviot ewes, kept on the same farm, and treated similarly, produced only 10"0 per 

 cent, lambs. 



t Marshall and Jolly, " Contributions to the Physiology of Mammalian Eeproduction. 

 Part II.— The Ovary as an Organ of Internal Secretion," ' PhiL Trans.,' B, voL 198, 1905. 



