30 
rearing their young in the New Zealand forests, to which 
country they periodically return for the summer season. Such, 
for example, are the long-tailed cuckoo and the small bronze- 
cuckoo, known to the Maori as ‘the bird of Hawaiki’’—that 
is, the bird who returns to the land from whence the Maori 
ancestors originally came. 
Our kingfisher also moves northward in the autumn, and 
may likewise leave fora warmer country. These latter birds con- 
duct their migrations as we should expect—that is, they reverse 
the conduct of their flight to those birds which live in northern 
latitudes, and we feel that their natural instincts are working 
according to rule. But the kuaka, not satisfied to pass the 
winter in a warmer country, must actually have two summers— 
one in New Zealand and a second in Northern Siberia, where 
it is said to have its breeding-place. Any way, it leaves in 
countless numbers from the north-east point of New Zealand, 
from almost the very place where the spirits of the dead Maori 
are supposed to take their departure to the other world (Reinga). 
For which sreason the bay on the shore of which the birds 
assemble before flight is named by Europeans ‘Spirits’ Bay.” 
The Polynesian mariner may in former times have guided his 
migrations by observation of the place of departure and arrival 
of birds of passage, also from the particular dates of such occur- 
rence, and from the circumstance that the winds at that time 
were most favourable for travel in such particular directions. 
The spirits of their dead may have been supposed to return to: 
the original birthplace of the race; and the nearest point of 
departure would be that from which the birds also departed. 
But do any migratory birds other than the kuaka go further 
north than Tahiti, Rarotonga, Samoa, and the Fijis ? 
I always understood that no bird from either the north or the 
south temperate zones ever voluntarily crossed the tropics, and 
to me it seems a fable that even the kuaka should do so, 
Whence comes the hereditary knowledge that should lead the 
kuaka half over the world to find a suitable breeding-place ? 
Why does it not go in search of an Antarctic continent, as should 
be the natural sequence of events? Are not the high lands and 
alpine valleys of New Zealand where the dotterel, the red- 
breasted plover, the stilt-plover, oyster-catcher, &c., make their 
nests, equally suitable for the godwit ? 
Where does the European godwit (Zzmosa lapponzca) breed ? 
and is it not said that the nesting-place of the European knot 
(Tringa canutus) has never been discovered ? 
That the New Zealand godwit starts in a northerly 
direction in its migration is assured ; but who has traced its 
course onward, as following the shores of China, it is making its 
way to lonely steppes in Siberia ? 
That these birds should winter during a New Zealand summer, 
and then leaving should pass through both temperate and torrid 
zones, and still onward to the confines of the north frigid zone to 
nest and summer, is truly marvellous. Will any reader of 
Nature kindly contribute to our knowledge of the nesting-place 
of the godwit or the knot, or remark on other points at issue ? 
TAYLOR WHITE. 
Wimbledon, Hawkes Bay, N.Z., February 9. 
In reference to the above, the British Museum possesses 
a single egg of the knot, said to be one out of a clutch of 
four obtained at Disco Island, Greenland. Colonel Feilden has 
good grounds for believing that this bird nests in the New 
Siberian Islands. —Ep. } 
The Indian Musk-Shrew. 
Tue old yarn about the tainting of wine in bottle by the 
common Indian shrew (Cvoctdura coerulea)) seems to die hard, 
since ‘‘ W. T. B.” has had to correct it again in your issue of this 
week, The account of a crucial and deliberate experiment 
may be another nail in its coffin. 
I kept wine in small chambers off my office, in a locked 
basket, ventilated at the ends, for use at luncheon. One day I 
opened it, and found a musk-shrew coiled up on a napkin, and 
did not disturb him, nor he himself. Next day I impanelled an 
unconscious jury ; and we found the wine perfectly good. The 
musk-rat had been there in the morning, but had received a 
quiet hint to go. When my guests were gone, I wiped a glass 
with his napkin, filled it with wine from the same bottle, and 
tound this too musky to swallow. 
The wine was a sound Pommard from Treacher and Co., 
Bombay, with capsuled corks bearing their stamp. 
I do not know whether it was bottled in Europe or in India. 
NO. 1541, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 
[May 11, 1899 
__ [believe that the commonest cause of the musk-taint in wine 
is the wiping of the glass with a clout that has been picked up! 
out of a corner, where the musk-shrew has laid on it. 
Even in the best houses in India native servants will often. 
use very little care about the cleanliness of ‘ glass-cloths ” ; 
and when one that has served to clean a lamp or shelter a shrew 
is next used upon a wineglass, you have vera et suffictens causa 
for spoilt wine—and temper. 
I have a note on this somewhere in the Journal of the Bombay 
Natural History Society ; but it is buried out of sight in some 
back volume, as my experiment took place about twenty years 
ago. I may add that the place of it was Ahmadabad, in 
Gujarat. |) WF Sincrair: 
102 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London, S.W., May 5. 
Mammalian Longevity. 
SINCE my letter on this subject in Narure of March 23, I 
have noticed that a slight change in the formula—the reduction 
of the constant from 10°5 to 10°I—gives much better results. 
The agreement is now very close indeed. The amended state- 
ment now runs as follows :— 
The full term of life in any mammalian species is equal to 
10°I times its period of maturity divided by the cube root of the. 
period, or 10°! times the cube root of the square of the period. 
We get the following results from its application :— 
| 
| Observations. 
_—_—.—/____—.~ Other 
| f. t. 1. | observations. 
Animal. Authority. p. m. /f. t. 1. by | ————-~ 
| formula. 3 Was 
Dom. Mouse ., |Dr. Ainslie Hollis. -25yr) 4 yr. | 4 (4"0r) 
Guinea-pig... |Flourens. *583 | 6-7 | 7(7'05) 
Lop-Rabbit— 
Buck... .. |R. E. Edwards. 75 | 8 8 (8°3 
Doe ... R. E. Edwards. 67 | 8 8 (7°7) 
Goat Pegler. 1°25 |12 12 
Fox . |St. G. Mivart. 2 13-14 |13°25 
Cate ... |Jennings. 2 15 16 
Cattle ... +» |Dr. Ainslie Hollis.) 2 18 16 14, Gresswell. 
| 15-20, Flourens. 
Large Dogs Dalziel. 2 15 16 15-20, Flourens 
and others. 
Thor. Horse ... Dr. Ainslie Hollis.) 4*5 |30 28 
Pigs .«.. |James Long. 5 30 30 
Hippopotamus Chamb. Encyc. 5 (30 \30 
Lion ... .. St. G. Mivart. | 6 30-40 |33 
Hunter... Blaine. 6°25 |33 34 
Arab Horse Dr. Ainslie Hollis.) 8 |40 40 
Camel ... Flourens. 8 |4o 4o 
Man Buffon. 25 |go-100}86 too, Flourens. 
| | 75; Farr. 
Elephant - Darwin. 30 100/98 
fc: F. Corder \ q 
Elephant a and Y 35 120|108 too, Darwin. 
\ Indian hunters.| 
| } 
In this table, p. m. stands, as before, for period of maturity,. 
and f. t. 1. for full term of life. 
In the first table another statement dealing with the cat was 
also given, on the authority of Dr. Mivart, which is excluded 
from this, since the period mentioned—one year—obviously 
refers to the animal’s period of puberty, not its period of 
maturity, as is indicated by Dr. Mivart’s expression: ‘* The 
domestic cat begins to be ready to reproduce by the end of the 
first year of her life. . . .” ( 
The age of the hunter, calculated from Blaine, was given in 
the previous table at thirty-five, and in this it is given at thirty- 
three. Blaine states that a horse of thirty years is relatively as 
old asa man of eighty, and a horse of thirty-five as a man of 
ninety. The first formula gave about ninety for man, and the 
corresponding age for the horse was therefore thirty-five ; but 
the corrected formula gives eighty-six for man, which corresponds 
to thirty-three in the horse. 
I agree with Dr. Ainslie Hollis that Buffon’s 90-100 years 
for man is too long ; but, on the other hand, seventy-five—the 
period given by Dr. Hollis from Dr. Farr’s calculations—seems 
much too short. The great majority of persons have their lives 
cut short by disease, the nervous strain of life, &c., and do not 
live to anything like the full term of life. Were it not for such 
influences as these, most persons at seventy-five would probably 
still possess a considerable degree of vitality, and should be able 
to look forward to many years of life. Furthermore, Farr’s cal- 
