524 DK. p. CHALMERS MITCHELL ON LONGEVITY AND 



durations on my list include some fairly high figures — a Brush- 

 Turkey of over 19 years, a Peacock Pheasant of nearly 15 years, 

 Argus and Kaleege Pheasants over 13 years, a Monaul of over 10 

 years and a Common Quail of over 7 y^ars. Taking Gallinse as a 

 Avhole there is no close correlation between size and duration. 

 The Grouse are the least viable in captivity, the average durations 

 being nearly all under a year, and 4 years being the maximum. 

 The Francolins, Quails, and Partridges have an average duration 

 most often between 1 and 2 years, with a few good figures of 

 maximum duration. The Pheasants, Peacocks, and Jungle-Fowl 

 for the most part have avei-age durations exceeding 2 years, and 

 reach 13 to 15 years maximum. Sir E. G. Loder, Bt., F.Z.S., 

 however, has told me of a Peacock still alive at a house near 

 Aylesbury, and which is certainly 40 years old-. The Curassows 

 and Guans appear to be specially viable ; there is a remarkable 

 uniformity amongst the individual durations, these lying very 

 close to the average, which is generally over 3 years. 



The structure of the intestinal tract does not differ much in 

 Gallinaceous birds : in all the gut is relatively capacious, althougli 

 not specially long, and the posterior portion including the caeca is 

 long and capacious compared to the whole gut. It is perhaps 

 not more than a coincidence that the hind-gut and cteca are rela- 

 tively least capacious in the Megapodes, next least capacious in the 

 Curassows, and most capacious in the other Gallinaceous birds, 

 whilst the Megapodes show the best maximum diu'ation, and the 

 Curassows the highest average durations in the group. The 

 conditions under which the birds of this group were kept during 

 the period in question did not differ much ; all had access to open 

 air, and the smaller Quails, Partridges and so forth, and the 

 Curassows had warmed shelters, whilst the others had unheated 

 sheds. Considering the more or less favourable conditions, and 

 the large size of many of the Gallinaceous birds, it cannot be said 

 that they display a good constitutional viability. 



Ca.pt. Flower's I'ecords are closely comparal^le with the maxima 

 I give here. He notes a. Clapperton's Francolin still alive after 

 6 years, my highest record being 5 years ; a Quail of over 7 years, 

 the same maximum as mine; an Amherst Pheasant of 11 years' 

 duration, and a Silver Pheasant still alive after 12 years; these 

 are higher than the records of the same species I quote, but, on 

 the other hand, I cite a Black-headed Kaleege of 13 years and a 

 Peacock Pheasant of 15 years. 



HEMIPODII. , , 



Ind 

 Tiirnix, whole genus 15 



T. dussumieri (Little Bittern Quail).. 

 /'. lepurava (Lepuraua Hemipode) .. 

 T. syhesi (Sykes's ,, ) .. 



7'. taigoor (Black-breasted ,, ) .. 

 7\ lanl-i (Tipperah ,, ) .. 



7\ raria (Varied ,, ) ,. 



