110 Longevity of Animals. 



chant of Amsterdam has been in possession of a grey parrot 

 for the last 32 years, after a relation had had the same bird 

 41 years. This would make its present age 73 years, exclu- 

 sively of the age it had when it was brought to Europe. It 

 is now in a complete state of marasmus. Its power of vision 

 and memory are gone, and it is constantly dozing. The ow- 

 ner feeds it at regular intervals, on sweet-meats dipped in old 

 Madeira. In its youth this bird was a prodigy of learning 

 and loquacity. At 60, its memory began to fail, it could not 

 be taught any thing new, and it jumbled the phrases it knew 

 in a most ridiculous manner. Till 60, it regularly moulted 

 once a year, and the last time, the red feathers in its tail were 

 exchanged for yellow ones. 



This history is the more credible, as it contains nothing 

 very extraordinary : parrots after living to a very great age, 

 and old birds frequently deviating from the common colour 

 of the plumage of the species, especially in captivity. The 

 following, however, I should be less inclined to believe, were 

 it not communicated to me on very good authority. A respec- 

 table tradesman of this town, (Weimar), had a nightingale 

 which hung for 16 years in his parlour. He obtained it from 

 a merchant of Gera, who had had it during six years. The 

 former paid great regard to the bird's cleanliness and always 

 fed it on pupa of ants, either fresh or dry, according to the 

 season, with a few meal worms a day, and whenever the bird 

 appeared unwell, a spider, if it could be obtained. It sung 

 beautifully, throughout the year, except in April and May, 

 when it moulted. After the tradesman had had it 16 years, 

 a tax of 6 dollars a year was levied upon every nightingale 

 kept in captivity, and the man, thinking it very unjust that 

 he should pay it for a bird caught so long ago, gave it to a 

 physician, who kept it for five years ; during which it sang 

 very little. From the latter person it came into the posses- 

 sion of a fourth, who had it three or four years, and where it 

 used to sing again. It died at a merchant's house, after it had 

 been with him about two years. The length of the last three 

 periods is not quite so certain as that of the first two ; how- 

 ever, it may be taken for granted, that this nightingale, which 

 had been caught in its adult state, cannot have lived much 

 less than thirty years in its prison. — TV. Weissenhorn. 



We have received a communication from the Rev. Francis 

 Orpen Morris, requesting us to inform all those whom it may 

 concern, that he has resigned his proprietorship of the Na- 

 turalist, and ceased to have any connection with that pe- 

 riodical. — Ed. 



