Mating season

“ The males rarely meet in the mating season without fighting, even though no female may be near. Sometimes one of them turns tail at the outset; and the other at once giving chase, the pursuer and pursued, separated by a few inches only, go darting through the woods, winding, doubling, now careering away up among the tree-tops, now down over the water, sweeping close to the surface until the eye becomes weary with following their mad flight. During all this time the female usually busies herself with feeding, apparently entirely unconcerned as to the issue. ”

“ Human beings are human animals however much we may pretend to the contrary. In the rest of the animal world the fact of the mating season is frankly acknowledged. It has never been recognized among humankind within the period of written history. Is it possible that when women are released from economic and social coercion, this periodic mating instinct in the woman of the species may assert, or reassert, itself? ”

“ Also, it is potentially dangerous to the person who tries to feed it, for it can, and may, strike damaging blows with its sharp hooves. In the autumn mating season, males, “tame” or wild, can be dangerous. ”

“ The mating season is in June, though the female rarely bears young except every second year. The young are born in January while the mother is hibernating; and the cubs, usually two in number, are at birth very small, weighing only about ten ounces. The she-bear makes a good mother, for though she shows great affection for her babies, she nevertheless reprimands them, and cuffs them as well, whenever they misbehave or fail to comply with her wishes. ”

“ Nevertheless, birds are not forced away from their winter quarters by inclement weather or impending famine, but by the subtle physiological change which warns them of the approach of the mating season and fills them with new desires, among which is the compelling one of a return to the spot where they first saw the light, or where they reared last season's brood. ”

“ The young, varying from one to eight in number, are born in April or May. At first they are naked and helpless, but when large enough accompany the mother on her search for food. This period of schooling lasts until they are forced to take up their separate lives with the approach of winter. Thenceforth they are among the most solitary of animals, showing fierce antagonism toward one another whenever they meet, and associating only during a brief period in the mating season in February or March. ”

“ The mating season of this animal is in February and early March and the young are born mostly in May, although some will be born in April. There are usually from four to ten young in a litter but occasionally there will be a larger number. ”

“ The breeding season of the timber wolves is not as definite as that of many of the furbearing animals, for the young make their appearance from early in March until in May, and an occasional litter will be born during the summer, even as late as August. The mating season of course varies, but is mainly in January and February, the period of gestation being nine weeks. ”

“ We know that most animals have breeding seasons evolved as adaptations to the food supply and weather. Hence there is in most animals a mating season in advance of the season of maximum food supply so that the young may appear at the period when food is most abundant. In the springtime most birds and mammals mate, and in the springtime at least one of the great activating glands is enlarged—the thyroid in man and in animals shows seasonal enlargement. ”

“ We are trying, for instance, to cow the savage in us by law, to restrain it while the birds are breeding; but we hardly succeed yet. The [91] mating season is scarcely over, the young not yet grown, when the gunners about me go into the fields with their dogs and locate every covey of quail, even counting the number of birds in each. With the dawn of the first day of open season they are out, going from flock to flock, killing, till the last possible bird is in their bloody bags. ”

“ The mating season comes in February, and e young are born usually in April, there being from four to nine in a litter. They make dens in the sand hills and in rocky districts, den in the rocks. Except during the breeding season they spend very little time in the dens, but lie during the day in some clump of brush or weeds, or often on top of a stump or log. In mountainous sections they lie during the day, somewhere on the mountain side and come down into the valleys at night in search of food.
The fox is not strictly a carnivorous animal. ”

“ The antics of the Swallow-tailed Kite during the mating season are particularly interesting. An observer of bird life says: “Of all aerial performances I have ever witnessed, the mating of the Swallow-tailed Kite excels. Ever charming and elegant, they outdo themselves at this season. In Becker County, Minnesota, in the spring of 1886, they chose as their mating ground an open space over the mouth of an ice-cold brook that made its way out from a dark, tangled larch swamp. ”

“ In regard to scents, will say that undoubtedly the most taking scent for male fur-bearing animals is that taken from the female during the mating season. Yet there are other things that will attract them sometimes. ”

“ Then come to the animals. In all higher forms of animal life, the male creature comes to the female creature and himself places within her body the germ which, when it meets the egg which is waiting for it, immediately makes a new life begin to grow. But the animals come together without knowing why. They do it from instinct only, and they do it in what is called the mating season, which is usually in the spring. The mating season happens once a year among most of the higher animals, like birds and wild cattle, but to some animals it comes several times a year like the rabbits, for instance. ”

“ This period is called the mating season—the time when both father and mother birds awaken to the desire of building their nest and creating offspring.
The egg has become as developed as Mrs. Bird alone can make it. For, like the flower seed, the fish and frog egg, it needs the fertilizing substance from the father bird to complete its development.
As has been said before, the father bird knows that there are so few eggs that he and Mrs. Bird cannot afford to lose even one, so great, very great care must be taken to fertilize every egg. ”

“ The booming of the males during the mating-season was one of the loudest and strangest of the early spring sounds, being easily heard on calm mornings at a distance of a half or three fourths of a mile. ”

“ After the mating season the females should be separated, placing three or four together in small enclosures and they should be well fed or otherwise they may kill and eat the young. They should be allowed to remain in these small enclosures until the young animals are large enough to take care of themselves, when they [Pg 95] should be separated and the females may again be placed in the large enclosure. ”

“ The northerly movement begins in Natal in January or February, so that it extends over a period of four or five months.
Courtship.—Observations on the courtship of this species are not numerous, for it is nocturnal in its habits and, except during the mating season, decidedly unsociable. In western Europe there has [Pg 99] been a great diminution of the breeding stock of late years. ”

“ Left to mere chance there is no reason why a season’s mating should allocate the web-footed male to the web-footed female. Each one of the ten males has nine chances to one of paring with a non-advantaged mate, and only one chance of mating with a hen similar to himself and possessing, as he does, this infinitesimal advantageous differentiation. On the average you would have only one couple in each hundred handing on in full even that first tiny advantage to their progeny with a corresponding tiny survival-value. ”

“ Courtship, mating, and fighting reactions however, seem to be evoked by the interaction of a complex of social releasers. Whereas males and females are strikingly different in appearance in the breeding season, visual sex recognition is complicated by ontogenetic changes. The body stripes characteristic of the female pattern, become dull or even disappear in some old females, which then approximate the typical male pattern. On the other hand newly matured males in their first breeding season retain distinct body stripes of the female pattern. ”

“ But considering the number of these birds that are killed every year—by our bold sparrow-club men for example, by misguided gardeners, and by bucolic louts who net them in the ivy after nightfall for the purpose of supplying matches with the needed birds—considering the quantities of them that cats and hawks kill, and the numbers that die from frost and starvation, to say nothing of the young birds of last season, the mating time is a very busy one indeed. The cocks are then as full of fight as an Irishman on a fair day, and the hens—well they simply sit and look on. ”

“ Spring is not the only rutting season. Love's calendar covers the year. In winter, wolves and foxes; in spring, the birds and fish; in summer, insects and many mammals; in autumn the deer. Winter is often the season chosen by polar animals; the sable couples in January; the ermine in March; the glutton, at the beginning and end of winter. Domestic animals have often several seasons; for the dog, cat and house-birds, spring and autumn. One finds young otters at any time. Most insects die after mating; but not all hemiptera, nor the queen bee, nor certain coleoptera, nor certain flies. ”

“ Second, he is in charge and there need be no damage to either animal selected for such mating. Place one female in a lone breeding male’s pen to mate, preferably after 6:30 p.m. due to nocturnal habits; which does not mean mating in the dark. The evening favors the mating instinct. Leave the female with the male for about 2 to 4 minutes testing period. If she appears unfriendly or desires to fight him, use the tin can at once to scoop her up and remove her to her own pen, and try her again the the following day or night, until she accepts service from the male. ”

“ The males of my menagerie of Gardeners, one and all eviscerated, speak of similar customs. They are the victims of the females when the latter have no further use for them. For four months, from April to August, the insects pair off continually; sometimes tentatively, but usually the mating is effective. The business of mating is all but endless for these fiery spirits.
The Gardener is prompt and businesslike in his affairs of the heart. In the midst of the crowd, with no preliminary courtship, the male throws himself upon the female. ”

“ To maintain or improve exhibition quality, females should be 3 to 31⁄2 months of age for first matings. Handling is much the same as for standard to highly superior stock, seldom permitting weanings of more than 5 or 6 kittens per litter, 3 to 4 being preferred. Young are left with mother as long as possible. Young are sex separated upon weaning, and penned in groups until not more than 71⁄2 weeks of age, when they are moved into individual pens to avoid possible torn ears or any scars from fighting. Only the selective mating method, one female placed in male's pen, is advised. ”

“ Often the male “stakes out his claim,” so to speak, in the vicinity of an old nest, where, during the courtship period, he utters his loud mating call for several days, or even weeks, before the female answers the invitation. Then, after mating is accomplished, his chosen mate may or may not accept his choice of a nesting site. The desirability of the nesting site may in such cases influence the female’s choice of a mate, for she is as much interested in having a comfortable and safe home as in choosing a handsome husband. ”

“ A fact not generally known by breeders is that if a bitch is lined by a second dog at any time during heat, the chances are that a second conception may take place, resulting in two distinct sets of pups, half-sister or brother to each other. This fact we have proven.
There is one other important feature which must be noticed before this chapter is closed, and that is Predetermining the Sex. Most breeders, of course, are anxious to have male pups predominate in a litter, and it is a demonstrated fact that ordinary mating produces from four to ten per cent more males than females. ”

“ It is very faint, but continues for a few moments after the mother leaves them suddenly to greet the caretaker at the door, and it may be heard while they are engaged in suckling, especially until they have learned how to quickly grasp the mother’s mammae as soon as she hovers over them for nursing. If some record of the mating has not been made to determine the date of birth, when the caretaker notes the earliest suckling cries from a nest he should thumb tack a record card or slip of paper to the door and enter thereon his best estimate of the time of birth of that litter. ”

“ After each mating, a two-day rest period is advised for him. Optional selective method: Some prefer to mate an older female in a pen housing two litter brother males, an effective practice. Female is handled in same manner as with only one male in selective breeding.
A mated female should be given normal food and care, with special attention as to adequate nesting materials by the 12th day in gestation (profit or pregnancy) , that nest may be in final arrangement by the 14th day, as she rests in the nest most of the time during the 40 hours preceding the litter’s birth. ”