NOTES. 79 



birds have attained. Of these even we have comparatively 

 few reliable records, and the instances of longevity noted 

 above by the Duchess of Bedford are therefore most welcome. 

 Attention must here be drawn to a valuable article on the 

 subject by Mr. J. H. Gurney, published in the " Ibis " for 

 1899 (pp. 19-42). In his researches Mr. Gurney found some 

 remarkable records such as a Raven of 69, Parrots of 80. 

 Eagle-Owl of nearly 70, Condor of 52, Eagles of 55 and 56, 

 Heron of 60, Goose of 80, Swan of 70, Collared Dove of 40, 

 and so on, but of the small Passerine and Picarian birds 

 25 years seems the maximum, and that has only been reached 

 in a very few cases. 



We have practically no positive evidence as to the length 

 of life of the wild bird, and I do not think we can argue from 

 instances of longevity in captive birds, which are so kept that 

 the supply of food is unfailing and all enemies and accidents 

 are carefully guarded against. There is perhaps little doubt 

 that members of certain families, such as Corvidce, Falconidce, 

 and Anatidoe. live longer than birds of other families, but I do 

 not believe that the average life of any species, of which a 

 pair would raise a minimum of say four young each year, can 

 be longer than a few years. If the normal life were much 

 longer, even after taking into account the probable great 

 mortality of the young, I imagine that birds which rear four 

 and more young in a season would literally be swarming in 

 the course of a few years. 



Then in the case of a migrant such as the Wryneck, imagine 

 what an individual would have to go through in the course 

 of sixty years : How many miles in all would it journey ? How 

 many storms and fogs might it be expected to encounter at 

 sea ? How many times would it have to steer clear of the 

 fatal lighthouse or lightship ? How many Hawks and Gulls, 

 how many guns and snares would it avoid ? I said that it 

 was impossible to believe that the same birds (i.e., the same 

 pair) lived for fifty or sixty years, but I would say now that 

 I cannot believe that any Wryneck could escape for fifty 

 years the manifold dangers to which it would of necessity be 

 exposed.— H. F. W.] 



WINTER HABITS OF THE BLACKCAP AND MATING 

 FOR LIFE. 



With reference to your remarks on the Blackcap in your 

 review of Mr. Howard's book on the Warblers, and the likeli- 

 hood of its pairing for life, it may be worth while stating that 

 during last winter, which I spent on the Riviera, I repeatedly 



