Accsunt of a Parrot hatched at Rome. 243 



flhd bccaufe the owner, finding that the eggs were not clear 

 like thofe of the preceding year, but contained a germ, 

 thought proper to leave them in a detached chamber expofed 

 to the lun, save the parrots more liberty and abundance 

 of tood. I am fullv perfuaded that ihefe caufes contributed 

 linich more than the climate to their producing. 



If inftead of one young one, which I believe to be a male, 

 there had been a female alio, it is very pr(jbable that a breed 

 might have been cftablifhcd at Kome. We may hope tor it 

 the next year. 



CotijcBurer. refpe£ling the Di^ration of the Life of Parrots, 

 deduced frovi the Time of their hicttbati(jn, and compared 

 iviih that of other Birds, 



Salerne afTerts that he faw a parrot 60 years of age Hill 

 alive and active; M. de la Borde favs that he faw one which 

 was more than 46 years, and I niyfelf have feen one which 

 had been in the fame family 75 years. 



Though Ollina, an excellent obferver, was of opinion that 

 the life of parrots, taken at a medium, did not exceed twenty 

 years, I am of opinion that he was deceived, having, per- 

 haps, had an opportunity of obferving only a fmall number 

 of individuals. 



All naturalifts agree in afUgning a long life to parrots, to 

 which Linnseus gives the epithet of hngccvi. This facl, 

 then, i? inconteftabje. The parrots in queltion furnifti a new 

 proof of it. Accordine to the calculation already made, the 

 age of the female cann^ot be lefs than 20 years; for, as it is 

 five fince fhe firft laid, it thence refults that flie was then 15; 

 but if in the order of nature thefe birds begin to lay at that 

 age, this wmdd be another proof of their longevity, fince we 

 know that the large birds, with which we are beft acquainted, 

 are capable of laying before they arc a year old, and that they 

 live at lead nine or ten times as long : we may thence con- 

 clude that thefe parrots niuft live 130 or 150 years. It may 

 be objedted, indeed, that it fometunes happens that the fe- 

 males do not become mothers till an age greater than that 

 eftabliOied by nature: but this is rarely the cafe among 

 quadrupeds, and (iill lefs fo among birds. The parrots iu 

 queltion lived together ten years without laying, though 

 they enjoyed the lame liberty and the fame facility (jf copu- 

 lating as they afterwards had ; and therefore we may fuppofe 

 that iniure was not difpol'ed for it. 



Bufi'on think? that the fife of birds is longer in proportion 



than iliat of quadrupeds, according to the time empkned in 



iheir growth. As we can obtain certain data relptiling the 



<i 4 time 



