154 



THE OSPREY. 



It will be seen how many families are unrep- 

 resented in till- precedintj- list; fc^r example, there 

 are no Liiiiiid:i , lA>.iiid:i , Mutaciliidw, fiyU'umi. Slur- 

 iiid:i , Oriiilidu-, I'iirid:i-, Picidn; or (Atpilonid:r, and 

 no marine or diving'-birds such as Podiciih'didir, 

 Alcid:i, Oili/iidiid;i; Frocdlariidn', and f>ltriiiri:i'. 

 Neither are there any Olitiid;i; thoug-h Goldsmith 

 says that (ireat Bustards usually live 15 years, 

 probably (juoting somebody; and it might have 

 been expected that .someone would have put 

 forward cases of longevity among the Tetra- 

 onid-.v. 



To draw any comparison between birds and 

 mammals is not ver3' easy. Birds attain their 

 growth of stature much quicker than most of the 

 Mammalia, and there seems good rea.son for 

 thinking they can live as long; but some writers, 

 including Edward Blyth, have held that they 

 cannot. It has been said that in a general way 

 the age of beasts is equal to six times the period 

 which they take to grow to full growth of 

 stature, and there may be truth in this axiom. 



but it cannot apply to birds. It seems to be 

 quite clearly proved that some tame elepliants 

 have reached one hundred vears ("The Field,' 

 March 11th, 1871, and January 2')th, l«i.>8), and 

 evidence points to the probability of their hav- 

 ing reached two hundred in a wild state. Horses 

 have not much chance of running' to the length 

 of their tether, but a barge-horse was si.xty-one 

 ( //'. )'()»((//), a (ialloway pony at Stilworthy was 

 ()(), and a Shetland ponv was 42. A Pomeranian 

 dog was I'P (Zool. 1878.'p. KHI), and anotlier dog 

 22 ( ) 'oiitilD. while Mr. A. Patter.son, of Yarmouth, 

 had a cat which was 18 years old. In the 

 London Zoological Gardens, according to Mr. 

 Ct>rnish, an Indian rhinoceros attained to 37, 

 and a Polar bear to 34; while in 186') a relative 

 of Dr. Paul Leverkuhn's shot a deer which for 

 4(1 years had carried a little metal box with the 

 date "April, 1829" inside it, proving its age. 



It is beyond question that fishes, such as, for 

 example, pike and carp, can attain to a very 

 great age, and so can tortoi-ses. The Hon. 



