OF NATURAL HISTORY. 5 IS. 



the fpecies the firft fpring or fummer after they are hatch* 

 ed. In proportion to the fize of their bodies, birds are 

 much more vivacious, and Uve longer than either men or 

 quadrupeds. Swans have been faid to Uve three hundred 

 years j but, though mentioned by refpe<Stable writers, the 

 affertion is not fupported by any authentic evidence. Mn 

 Willoughby, in his Ornithology*, remarks, < We have been 



< aiTured by a friend of ours, a perfon of very good credit, 

 f that his father kept a goofe known to be fourfcore years of 



< age, and as yet found and lufty, and like enough to have 



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

 « for her mifchievoufnefs, worrying and deftroying the young 

 * geefe and goflings.' In another part of this valuable work, 

 Mr. Willoughby tells us, ' that he has been afiiired by 



< credible perfons, that a goofe will live a hundred years or 

 i moref.' 



In man and quadrupeds, the duration of Hfe bears fome 

 proportion to the times of their growth. But, in Birds, their 

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

 though they live proportionally longer- Some fpecies of 

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

 limbs the moment they iflue from the fliell •, and, in a month 

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

 A dung-hill cock has the capacity of engendering at the age 

 of four months, but does not acquire his full grov.'th in lefs 

 than a year. The fmaller birds are perfecl in four or five 

 months. They grow more rapidly, and produce much foon- 

 $r than quadrupeds, and yet they live proportionally much 

 longer. In man and quadrupeds, the duration of life is 

 about fix or feven times more than that of their growth. 

 According to this rule, a cock or a parrot, who arrive at their 

 ftiU growth and powers in one year, fliould not live above 



* Page 14. 

 f Ornithology, page 2j6, 



