Comparative Ayes to which Birds live. 19 



and sometimes at an angle. In a moist neighbourhood the 

 eggs are not so far from the surface as they are in the drier 

 sandy soil. 



The young -when hatched are well feathered and can fly, 

 and at once commence an independent existence, as they do 

 not stay with their parents. Scrub-fowls are difficult to keep 

 in confinement, being very restless, and generally end by 

 accidentally killing themselves. Consequently adult birds of 

 this species are rarely seen in captivity. 



IV. — On the Comparative Ages to lohich Birds live. 

 By J. H. GuRNEY, F.Z.S. 



How many things there are in ornithology, in spite of our 

 boasted proficiency at the present day, of which we are 

 really profoundly ignorant ! And one of these is the age of 

 birds. Who can say what guides birds on migration, in spite 

 of all which has been written on the subject — whether 

 any of them have the power of smelling — what their powers 

 of vision are, or even what becomes of them when they are 

 dead? 



There is still much difference of opinion as to whether many 

 species moult the major part of their plumage or recolour, 

 and the best ornithologists are divided as to the height at 

 which birds migrate, the speed at which they go, and the 

 age to which they can, nnder the most favourable conditions, 

 live, which is the subject of the present paper. No one, up 

 to now, has been at the pains to collect and compare the 

 facts about age scattered in many books, but I hope to make 

 at least a step in that direction. Birds are not to be com- 

 pared to human beings. They are in truth handicapped in 

 the race for life, for it is ordained that all the feathered tribes 

 should be very much exposed to death from a great many 

 accidental causes. We may so call death from insufficiency 

 of food (oftenest arising from the extremes of heat and frost), 

 from ravenous Hawks and other predaceous animals, and from 

 the hand of man with his gun and snare. Almost every species 

 of bird migrates, and they have to reckon on storms during 



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