[Sidenote: Ælian. Hist. Animal. L. +vii.+ c. 29.]
for the almost incredible case of a gravid bitch of the age of twenty-two years. After which, we may well exclaim in the words of the Greek naturalist, οὔκουν οὐδὲ Ἄργος ὁ κύων μυθοποίημα ἦν, ὦ θεῖε Ὅμηρε, σὸν, οὐδὲ κόμπος ποιητικός!
[220] Xenophon merely says that the dog and bitch should be ἀγαθοὶ, and the Faliscian adds that they be of tried spirit,
[Sidenote: Cyneget. vs. 266.]
Et primum expertos animi, quæ gratia prima est, In venerem jungunt, &c.
[Sidenote: The Chace. B. +iv.+]
for every longing dame select Some happy paramour; to him _alone_ In leagues connubial join. Consider well His lineage; what his fathers did of old, Chiefs of the pack, &c.
[221] Αἱ γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἐμφανεῖ ὁμιλίαι οὐ γόνιμοι. This ridiculous notion, though doubtfully advanced in the manual, is supported by many of the old Cynegetica.
[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. 279.]
Sed frustrà longus properat labor, abdita si non Altas in latebras, unique inclusa marito Fœmina, nec patitur veneris sub tempore mœchos Illa, neque emeritæ servat fastigia laudis. Primi complexus, dulcissima prima voluptas. Hunc veneri dedit impatiens natura furorem.
[Sidenote: Cynograph. Curios. p. 54.]
The credulous author of the Cynographia Curiosa adds to the absurdity of the notion by saying, “Si tum videantur canes, venationi inutiles parient,” borrowing the same from the Cynosophium, where such an opinion is said to be the result of long experience. See Cynosoph. c. +ii.+
[222]
[Sidenote: Aristot. Hist. Animal. L. +vi.+]
κυΐσκεταί τε κύων ἐκ μιᾶς ὀχείας· δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο γίνεται μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς κλέπτουσι τὰς ὀχειάς· ἅπαξ γὰρ ἐπιβάντες πληροῦσι, says the Stagirite: and again he remarks, that the Spartan dog and bitch are more inclined to copulate after exercise, a fact well known to sportsmen: πονήσαντες γὰρ μᾶλλον δύνανται ὀχεύειν, ἢ ἀργοῦντες. (See Scaliger’s note on the passage, L. +vi.+ c. +xx.+) This circumstance is also noticed by Ælian and Julius Pollux. Indeed the author of the Onomasticon, in a passage that has escaped the observation of commentators, throws considerable light on the text, which is here rather obscure. See L. +v.+ c. +vi.+ 51. of the Onomasticon.
[Sidenote: P. Angelii Bargæi Cyneg. L. +v.+]
Nec priùs optatam in venerem dimitte volentes, Quàm rapido quassis cursu, quàm corpora multo Sole fatigatis vehementior ingruat æstus. Inde decem noctes, totidemque ex ordine luces Abde domi, cursusque omnes prohibere memento.
[223]
[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 286.]
A greyhound bitch may be taken out coursing for ten days after having been warded, but not longer—“Da requiem _gravidæ_, solitosque remitte labores.” Walking exercise, however, should be continued till the period of parturition arrive.
[Sidenote: Encyc. Méthod. Sur les Chasses, p. 140.]
“Il est prouvé qu’une lice couverte, qu’on laisse au chenil, s’engraisse et s’appésantit en cessant de travailler, et qu’en cet état elle fait ses chiens avec peine, et souvent même elle meurt dans l’opération”—“on la fait promener de tems en tems dehors, par un valet de chiens,” &c. &c.
The period of uterine gestation is in the Celtic greyhound the same as in other varieties of the canine tribe:
[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. vs. 130.]
Mox cum se bina formârit lampade Phœbe Ex quo passa marem genitalia viscera turgent, Fœcundos aperit partus matura gravedo Continuò, largâque vides strepere omnia prole!
[Sidenote: Hist. Quadrup. De Cane.]
Conrad Gesner remarks: “observavi in canibus nostris nonnullas catellas gessisse uterum præcisè diebus 60, nonnullas uno insuper aut duobus. Peregrina leporaria nostra excellens tulit uterum diebus 63.”
[224] Τὸν ἄῤῥενα μὴ ἐφίεναι ἐπὶ λαγών. This caution is unnecessary for modern coursers, who rarely use the same hound in the field and kennel, for coursing the hare, and supplying the pack with high-bred successors. But if the same dog be employed for both purposes, the interval specified for the restoration of his powers is not too long. The Cynosophium, however, suggests a shorter period of 30 days, during which nutritious food is to be administered, and then the stallion hound may be again taken out for sport.
[225] Although the rule has its exceptions, (see Brodæus in Oppianum, p. 42.) Aristotle’s observation, that animals in general ὁρμᾶ πρὸς τὸν συνδυασμὸν in the vernal season, will be found correct.
[Sidenote: Virgil. Georg. +iii.+ 272.]
Vere magis, quià vere calor redit ossibus.
[Sidenote: Oppian. Halieut. L. +i.+ vs. 473.]
εἴαρι δὲ γλυκὺς οἶστρος ἀναγκαίης Ἀφροδίτης καὶ γάμοι ἡβώωσι, καὶ ἀλλήλων φιλότητες πᾶσιν ὅσοι γαῖάν τε φερέσβιον, αἵ τ’ ἀνὰ κόλπους ἠέρος, οἵ τ’ ἀνὰ πόντον ἐριβρύχην δονέονται.
[Sidenote: De Venatione. c. +vii.+]
All the Cynegetica agree with Arrian as to the spring being the most fit season for breeding and rearing puppies. Ἡ γὰρ ὥρα πρὸς τὰς αὐξήσεις τῶν κυνῶν κρατίστη αὕτη, says Xenophon; and the same opinion is repeated by the copyists of later date, with little addition. Indeed, the reasons alleged in the text are the best that can be adduced for preferring the spring to any other season:
[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. L. +i.+ v. 375.]
εἰ δὲ νύ τοι κεράσαι φίλον ἔπλετο δῖα γένεθλα, εἴαρι μὲν πρώτιστα λέχος πόρσυνε κύνεσσιν.
[Sidenote: La Vénerie. p. 9.]
[Sidenote: Countrey Contentments. B. +i.+ p. 26.]
The Cynosophium specifies January and February as the best breeding months. “La droite saison,” says Fouilloux, “en laquelle doivent naistre est en Mars, Avril, et May, que le temps est tempéré, et que les chaleurs ne sont trop véhémentes.” He gives the same reasons as our author for avoiding summer and autumn, and is, of course, followed verbatim by Turberville. Markham would “put them together to ingender and breed, eyther in January, February, or March, according as they shall grow proud; for those are the three most principall monthes in the yeare for hound, bitches, or bratches, to be limed in: not but that they may conceive and bring forth as good whelps in other monthes; but because there will be much losse of time in the entering of them.” He farther enjoins that “the moone be eyther in the signe Aquarius or Gemini; for it is held amongst the best huntsmen of this land, that the whelpes that are ingendred under those two signes, wil never runne mad, and for the most part the litter will have at least double so many dogge whelpes as bitch whelpes.”
[226] Ἄλλως τε καὶ ἀπορίᾳ γάλακτος. The want of this essential article of nutriment renders the winter objectionable for the rearing of whelps; but its abundance in the spring gives to this season an additional claim:
[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. vs. 158.]
passim nam lactis abundans Tempus adest, albent plenis et ovilia mulctris.
[227]
[Sidenote: Geoponic. L. +xix.+ c. +ii.+]
[Sidenote: Encyc. Méthod. Les Chasses. p. 139.]
Ὅτι χειμὼν ἐπιλαμβάνει τὰ σκυλάκια. The greyhound puppy is remarkably tender and susceptible of cold; indeed Fronto says that the whelp of the pastoral dog requires to be fostered in warmth, δυσχείμερον γάρ ἐστι τοῦτο τὸ ζῶον: and if an animal, necessarily of a hardy constitution, be, when young, impatient of severe cold, we shall readily acknowledge the importance of such a seasonable birth for the delicate Celtic whelp, as will give him during his period of growth two summers to one winter. “Il faut, autant qu’il est possible, faire couvrir les lices à la fin de l’hiver ou au commencement du printems, par la raison que les jeunes chiens, à qui les froids sont toujours nuisibles, ont pour eux deux étés contre un hiver, et qu’en conséquence ils s’élèvent plus aisément.”
[Sidenote: Geoponic. L. +xix.+ c. +i.+]
It is an essential part of kennel management to support brood bitches with the most nutritious aliment. Varro (in Geoponicis) recommends barley bread, in preference to wheaten, as more nutritious, with mutton broth from bones, &c. poured over the bread, to be given before whelping; and afterwards, barley meal with cow’s or goat’s milk, boiled bones, and water to drink. The same instructions are delivered, almost αὐτολεξεὶ, by Varro, de Re Rusticâ, L. +ii.+ c. +ix.+ In the latter reference, the author expressly says the bitches are more nourished by barley than wheaten bread, “magis eo aluntur, et lactis præbent majorem facultatem.” But the experiments of the late Sir H. Davy on the quantum of nutritious matter contained in the different varieties of bread corn, and the test to which they have been put, in kennel feeding, by practical sportsmen, induce us to believe that the “Scriptores de Re Rusticâ” are mistaken on this point. The farina of wheat is the best food for brood bitches, boiled with milk, or scalded with meat-broth. Of the importance of keeping brood bitches on highly nutritious food, the old huntsman, Pan, “Deus Arcadiæ,” was fully aware; for Diana found him carving a lynx for their repast:
[Sidenote: Callimach. H. in Dian.]
——ἵκεο δ’ αὖλιν Ἀρκαδικὴν ἐπὶ Πανός· ὁ δὲ κρέα λυγκὸς ἔταμνε Μαιναλίης, ἵνα οἱ τοκάδες κύνες εἶδαρ ἔδοιεν.