216 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



crease their attentions, and the spark of life only 

 expires when the material is exhausted."* 



The birds most celebrated for longevity are the 

 raven, the pelican, and the eagle, though the evi- 

 dence which we have met with, in proof of the com- 

 mon opinion respecting the long life of these birds, 

 is not always so satisfactory as we could wish. To 

 these may be added the skylark, which has been 

 known to live in a cage, as Olina says, ten years ; 

 while Raczynski mentions an instance in which one 

 lived twenty-four years. 



In his chapter on " The Longest Lives," Pliny 

 says, " Hesiod (the first writer, as I take it, who 

 hath treated of this argument, and yet like a poet), 

 in his fabulous discourse touching the age of man, 

 said, forsooth, that a crow lives nine limes as long 

 as we ; and harts or stags four times as long as 

 he, but ravens thrice as long as they." If we 

 estimate accordingly a generation at thirty years, 

 the age of the crow would be 270 years, that of the 

 stag 1080 years, and that of the raven 3240 years ; 

 but if we interpret the terms used by both Hesiod 

 and Pliny to signify a year, we should then have the 

 life of the crow nine years, and of the raven 108, 

 which is probably nearer the truth. 



" No person, as far as I know," says Montbeil- 

 lard, " has determined the age at which the young 

 ravens have acquired their full growth and are ca- 

 pable of propagating. If in birds, as in quadru- 

 peds, each period of life was proportional to the 

 total space of existence, we might suppose that the 

 crows required many years to reach their adult state, 

 though it seems well ascertained that this bird 

 sometimes lives a century or more. In many cities 

 of France they have been known to attain to that 

 distant period ; and in all countries and all ages 

 they have been reckoned as birds extremely long- 



* Journ. of a Nat., p. 181, 1st edit. 



