34 LONGEVITY OF THE EAGLE : 



present of it, but what its age was when the latter 

 received it from Ireland is unknown.* Another, that died 

 at Vienna, was stated to have lived in confinement one 

 hundred and four years.-f- A white-tailed eagle cap- 

 tured in Caithness, died at Duff House in February, 

 1862, having been kept in confinement, by the late Earl 

 of Fife, for thirty-two years. But even the eagle may 

 be outlived. Apemantus asks of Timon : — 



" Will these moss'd trees, 

 That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels, 

 And skip when thou point'st out ? " 



Timon of Athens, Act. iv. Sc. 3. 



The old text has " moyst trees." The emendation, 

 however, which was made by Hanmer, is strengthened 

 by the line in As You Like It (Act iv. Sc. 3) : — 



" Under an oak, whose boughs were moss'd with age." 



In an old French " riddle-book," entitled " Demands 

 Joyous," which was printed in English by Wynkyn de 

 Worde in 15 11 (a single copy only of which is said to be 

 extant), is the following curious " demande " and " re- 

 sponse." It is here transcribed, as bearing upon the sub- 

 ject of the age of an eagle : — 



" Dem. What is the age of a field-mouse ? 

 Res. A year. And the life of a hedge-hog is three 



* Pennant, " British Zoology." f Yarrell, " History of British Birds." 



