346 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



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 times 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-lived. 

 But the progress to maturity must be slow in this 

 species, compared to the duration of their life ; for 

 towards the end of the first summer, when all the 

 family consort together, it is difficult to distinguish 

 the old from the young, and, very probably, they are 

 capable of breeding the second yearf." 



Pigeons are reported to have lived from twenty to 

 twenty-two years | ; and even linnets, goldfinches, 



* Holland's Plinie, vii. 48. 



f Oiseaux, Art. Le Corbeau. 



J Smellie, Philos, of Nat. Hist. ii. 416, 8vo. ed. 



