BIRDS. 301 



Names. Peiiod of Maturity. Length of Life. No. of young at a birth. 



Leopard and Tiger 2 20 to 25 4 or 5 



Wolf 2 15 to 20 5 to 9 



Dog 1 do. 3 to 6 



Fox 1 10 to 12 do. 



Cat less than 1 do. do. 



Dormouse do. 6 3 to 5 



Hog 1 15 6 to 20 



Hare less than 1 7 to 8 2 to 4 



Rabbit do. do. 4 to 8 



Guinea-pig 6 weeks 7 4 to 12. 



Some birds afford instances of great longevity. In this 

 class of animals, the duration of life is by no means propor- 

 tioned to the times of their growth. Most of them acquire 

 their full dimensions in a few months, and are capable of mul- 

 tiplying the species the first spring or summer after they are 

 hatched. In proportion to the size of their bodies, birds are 

 much more vivacious, and live longer than either men or 

 quadrupeds. Swans have been said to live three hundred 

 years; but though mentioned by respectable writers, the 

 assertion is not supported by any authentic evidence. Mr. 

 Willoughby, in his Ornithology, remarks, "We have been 

 assured by a friend of ours, a person of very good credit, that 

 his father kept a goose known to be fourscore years of age, 

 and as yet sound and lusty, and like enough to have lived 

 many years longer, had he not been forced to kill her for her 

 mischievousness, worrying and destroying the young geese 

 and goslings." In another part of this valuable work, Mr. 

 Willoughby tells us, "that he has been assured by credible 

 persons that a goose will live a hundred years and more*'' 

 In man and quadrupeds, the duration of life bears some pro- 

 portion to the time of their growth. But, in birds, their 

 growth, and their powers of reproduction, are more rapid, 

 although they live proportionally longer. Some species of 

 birds, as all the gallinaceous tribes, can make use of their 

 limbs the moment they issue from the shell ; and in a month 

 or five weeks after, they can likewise employ their wings. 

 A dunghill cock does not acquire his full growth in less than 

 a year. The smaller birds are perfect in four or five months. 

 They grow more rapidly, and produce much sooner than 

 quadrupeds, and yet live proportionally much longer. In 

 man and quadrupeds the duration of life is six or seven times 

 more than that of their growth. According to this rule a 

 cock or a parrot, which arrives at its full growth and pow 

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