THE OSPREY. 



147 



It is abundantly proved that so long- as health 

 remains to them the majority of birds can go on 

 breeding, as Mr. Meade-Waldo's Eagle-Owls, 

 (/.'«/)() niaxinnis) to be mentioned presently, 

 testify. It is so with the domestic Goose of our 

 farmyards. Mr. L. Wright, an authority in such 

 matters, says: — "The (ioose lives, lays, and pro- 

 duces strong and healthy progeny to a very ad- 

 vanced age, many cases being' recorded of birds 

 being- in full breeding to at least forty years 

 old." I -The Book of Poultry," p. 560). What is 

 true of Anser tiot/irs/iiiis and /i/ido inaximus is 

 also true of many other birds. Their vocal 

 powers are likewise known to remain strong- and 

 vigorous for a verv long period: a lllackbird of 

 20 continued to sing well ('The Belfast Com- 

 mercial Chronicle,' Dec. 2.Sth, 183^i| and a Sky- 

 lark nearly as long ('Zoologist,' 186.=;. p. 9604), 

 while a l',y»uiorhina tihiccn of 26 was noisy to 

 the last. If birds can sing as long as that in a 

 cage, there is probablv nf) limit in a wild state. 

 Johann Naumann instances a Cuckoo which 

 called, season after sea.son, in the same peculiar 

 key for 25 years, and was considered to be the 

 same bird, and other cases in point might be 

 cited. 



Bleached or faded birds, and birds with worn 

 or abraded plumage, are often held on that ac- 

 count to be very old, but the truth is the colour- 

 ing of a bird in perfect health and the texture 

 of its feathers are exactly the same at 50 as at 

 ffve, — vide Mr. Meade- Waldo's veteran pair of 

 Biiho tiiaxiiiiua. Neither are overgrown beaks 

 and misshaped claws a sign of age, arising- in 

 all ca.ses from unnatural conditions of some 

 kind. An Alauda an'fiisis of 20 with a hind 

 claw exceeding 2'2 inches did not owe that de- 

 formity, as its owner erroneously suppo.sed, to 

 its age, but to captivity and unnatural perches. 



Sometimes birds, after being- many years in 

 captivitj', have been known to develop white 

 feathers, e. g. Tttrdiis iiicrula (Thompson I, Moii- 

 ticola lyanus (Macpherson), Fringilla tir/f/is 

 (Butler). But this incipient albinism is not 

 directly due to age, but to the artificial condi- 

 tions under which all birds are placed in cap- 

 tivity. In the same way. when the colour of the 

 iris grows pale, as in both nocturnal and diurnal 

 birds of prey, it is much more likely to be from 

 sun-exposure than from age, though it is pos- 

 sibly long-evity which »onietimes i)roduces blind- 

 ness from cataract in Ihibo niaximus and some 

 I'si/lati. 



Now I slKiuld like to say a word about marking 

 birds, which some experimenters have thought 

 could be made an available method if placed in 

 careful hands, and it certainly seems that it 

 might be so. Nevertheless, artificial marking 

 to test age is a procedure beset with difficulties. 

 for the chances must ever be 51) to 1 against a 

 ringed wild bird turning up in the right quarter 

 to be identified after a lapse of years. The 

 easiest species to experiment with would pro- 

 bably be Cyg'incs olor, living as it does in a 

 semi-domesticated state, and C. olor has had, 

 ever since the swanherds of the time of Bacon, 

 the reputation of antiquity. Ardtn cincrfa has 

 on various occasions been ringed by the Loo 

 Hawing- Club and other falconers, as will appear 

 further on, and there is one very curious 

 anecdote of a Dutch Swan which bore its ring 

 l02 years. 



The lightest aluminium rings are recommended 

 by .some pig-eon-fanciers, as they do not rust, to 

 be fixed close round the leg (tansus), but they are 

 not .so pliable as white metal rings, which can 

 be made of all sizes, open easily, and are said 

 not to corrode. Either .sort can be obtained from 

 Mr. A. C. Hughes. Fulwell Station, Twickenham, 

 the inventor of interlocking- pigeon-ring-s, such 

 as are shown in the accompanying- figures. If 

 used for young birds, the day of putting them 

 on should be deferred as long^ as possible, for in 

 most cases the tarsus continues to grow until 

 the bird is full-grown, and crueltj' may arise 

 from too tighta ligature 



Interlocking rings for marking birds 



Since ISQl about nine young Woodcocks have 

 been annually ringed at Alnwick Castle in Nor- 

 thimiberland. as I learn from Mr. E. (i. Wheeler, 

 agent to the estate, who adds that the practice 

 of ringing them will be continued by the Duke's 

 orders. If they are not all shot, we may antici- 

 pate that naturalists will get some statistics from 

 some of these "Longbills", but .some have been 

 killed already in the Alnwick preserves, besides 

 one in Kent, one in Wexford, and one in Cork, 

 There is at present no case of a Woodcock living- 

 more than 6'. years. 



In 18'»6 nineteen (hia hrueniiichi and twenty- 

 two A'issa tridadyla, were liberated in Franz 

 Josef Land marked with a "J" (Ibis, 1898, pp. 

 268. 271). In 1898 Col. Feilden and I supplied the 

 gamekeepers at Holkham in Norfolk with rings 

 stamped "Holkam 1898"; and Miss Hamond 

 ringed 44 young Sterna fluviatilis at the same 

 place with rings inscribed "1898". and one of 

 them has turned up already. In 1887 a marked 

 Albatross was released off Cape Horn, and some 

 years ago Mr. Evans of Edinburgh marked 

 some Swallows. 



In the ca.se of the Alckh.i daubs of paint have 

 been tried, but artificial marks are of no value 

 as an indication of ag-e, for the feathers of 

 birds are continually dropping out and wearing- 

 away. For this reason accidental varieties, e. ^^ 

 the pied Ravens of Faeroe, cannot be trusted 

 for many years. A white-headed Titrdns 

 merula .seen at Fethard for 15 years ('Birds of 

 Ireland.' i. p. 148) and another, seen at Barnard 

 Castle for 7 (Zool. 1866. p. 347), may or may not 

 have been the identical individuals which first 

 revealed themselves, as their recorders believed 

 them to be. 



The following, by Mr. Joseph Whitaker, who 

 ha> the largest collection of pied birds in 

 England, is very much to the point, and may be 

 adduced as bearing on this fallacy:— "When 

 once a variety has occurred there is always the 

 chance of its coming out again. For in.stance, 

 in a rookery in Leicestershire a few years back 

 a white Rook ( r()ri'!/i /;-«^'^//c.ir«.f) was hatched, 

 and nearly every year since either white or pied 

 ones have occurred". (Norwich N. Tr. iv. p. 

 63). These latter were, presumablj', the de- 

 scendants of the albino or of the albino's parents 

 and it is evident that the first white Rook de- 

 tected may very soon have been dead. 



