146 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:4— April, 1920 



my friend the New England whip-poor-will lived. The bird tho 



seldom seen even by nature lovers or the country people who live 



near its favorite haunts is well known to the inhabitants of the state. 



It is one of the few birds that can be surely recognized by its voice 



even tho the listener has never heard it before and knows it only 



by name. Many times after my first meeting with the whippoor- 



will I stood on the porch and whistled forth my best imitation of 



his song into the fast falling night and from his retreat in the shadv 



forest on the slopes of the glen he would silently come to the bidding 



call. First his voice sounding far away and then suddenly near 



me. Not a sound of his coming could be heard but occasionallv 



his low wavering flight was mirrored against the evening sky. 



After finding there was nothing for him to come to. he would 



return again to his retreat for very soon his voice would be heard 



from the distant woodland. 



Some people call the song of this night bird mournful and I have 



heard of the bird being shot because the inhabitants of a house 



could not bear its doleful and boding cry, as they were pleased to 



consider it. To my ears it is sweetest music, 



For what are the voices of birds 



Ay, and of beast, but words — our words 



Only so much more sweet. 



Often in fancy I have heard his thrilling cry and the lines written 

 by Milton in part of II Penseroso drift thru my mind : 



Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, 



Most musical, most melancholy 



Thee, chantress, oft, the woods among 



I woo, to hear thy even song; 



And missing thee, I walk unseen 



On the dry smooth-shaven green 



To behold the wandering moon. 



Ages of Birds 



Ravens have been known to live to be 69 years old, nightingales 

 25, skylarks 24, goldfinches 23, canaries 20, the American robin 13, 

 an eagle-owl 68, a gray parrot 93, a sulphur-crested cockatoo 81. 

 an amazon 102, a white-headed or Egyptian vulture 118, a golden 

 eagle 104, pelicans 32, common herons 22, a black stork 30, a mute 

 swan 70, a domestic goose (authority somewhat doubtful) 80, wild 

 ducks 29, doves and pigeons from 23 to 40 years, herring-gulls 44, 

 ostriches 35, cranes 50. 



