14- o^^ciTHOLogr. BookI. 



Yolks fter ° f P re P ared in tke * Vitellarium, yet being after coition made fecund, fire will fhonly breed 

 and lay new ones, and thofe alfo fruitful For not only thofe Eggs which are as yet Tolly and 



dutof Lb "f?* T'*?"' ° Y wh °% ^& feeds and rudiments are already in the \ Ovarium, but thofe 

 alfo which are not yet begun but full be conceived a long time after, are by the fame virtue 

 made fecund. The fame fenfe he repeats in other words about the end of Exercit. 40. 

 If from under a Hen once rendred prolific and fitting upon Eggs ( after fie hath laid a// 

 her Eggs, none remaining in the Ovarium) you take away all her Eggs, fix will anew breed 

 and lay more, and thofe alfo prolific. I fuppofe this great Naturalift was miftaken in 

 that he affirms, that a Hen after fee hath laid all her Eggs, and there be none remain- 

 ing in the Ovarium, will breed new ones. For I do not fee how he could make any 

 experiment hereof: Seeing that if he had opened a fitting Hen, and had found no 

 Eggs within her, how could he certainly know that (he would havebred new ones 

 had (lie lived > If he thought that all Clock-hens do lay all their Eggs, and quite em- 

 pty the Fitellarium, before they begin to clock and betake themfelves to fitting • he 

 was therein furely miftaken. For I fee no reafon why that fhould be true in Hens 

 which I have by experience found falfe in other birds 3 efpecially feeing himfelf con- 

 fefles, that there are in Hens as well as other Birds an almoft infinite number of Yolks 

 in the Ovarium of divers growths, from an almoft invifible quantity to the confum- 

 mate magnitude. 



fhSed To thefe we {ha11 add that obfervation of Dr. Harvey in Exercit. 59. degenerat. 



Animals have Animal. Nature hath for the moft part given numerous young to thofe Animals' 

 numerous which being of little ftrength or courage, can hardly defend themfelves from the in- 

 Soft, or e i uries of othe rs 5 and fo compenfates the brevity of their lives with a plentiful off- 

 borh. fprmg. Nature ( faith Pliny ) hath given this to the Bird-kjnd, that thofe of them fhould 



he moft fruitful, which are moft cowardly or fugacious. For whereas generation in all 

 Creatures is inftituted by Nature for perpetuities fake, it is more frequent in thofe 

 that are of fhorterlife and obnoxious to external injuries, left the Species fhould fail. 

 And therefore Birds that excel in ftrength and live by ravine, and fo enjoy a longer 

 and more fecure life do feldom lay more than two Eggs at once. It is true indeed that 

 Pigeons, Turtles, and Ring-doves do fit only upon two Eggs at once : but then they 

 compenfate the defedr of number by the frequency of layings they breeding ten 

 times a year. Therefore they breed much, though not many at a time. 



Chap. IV. 



Of the Jge of Birds. 



Birds are ion- /^\ F a ^ fanguineous and hot Animals Birds are the longeft lived, for the proporti- 

 Quidru d eds n \ W one>f their boclies mucn more vivacious than Quadrupeds. Swans arefaid 



rupe s. \^r tQ attain tQ the age eyen of three hun( j re{i years> We haye been affured by 



yearfdd 8 ° a friend of OUrs ' a P erfon of vei T g ood credit > tnat his Father kept a Goofe known to 

 be fourfcore years of age, and as yet found andlufty, and like enough to have lived 

 many years longer, had he not been forced to kill her for her mifchievoufnefs, wor- 

 a Fdican of rying and deftroying the young Geefe and Codings. Moreover, the Pelican that 

 cie.ameage. ^^s kept at Mechlin in Brabant, in the Emperour Maximilians time, was certainly 

 believed to be fourfcore years old. What is reported of the age of Eagles and Ra- 

 vens, although it exceeds all belief, yet doth it evince that thofe birds are very long- 

 * onithoi. lived. Our people ( faith Albert its as he is quoted by * Aldrovandus ) have found 

 tom.s.p.no. by experience, that a Pigeon lives twenty years. And as for tame Pigeons (faith 

 Aldrovandus ) a certain Perfon, worthy to be believed, and not unskilful in Natural Hi- 

 ftory, related to me, that he had been told by his Father, who was much delighted in keep- 

 ing and obferving Pigeons and other birds : That he had kept a Pigeon two and twenty 

 years, and that it bred all the while, except the laftfix months, in which leaving its Mate, 

 it made choice of afwgle life. 



But to let pafs great birds, even the very finalleft birds live a great while. We our 

 a Linnet of fdves knew a Linnet kept at leaft fourteen years in a Cage, which as yet fhewed no 

 »4 years. figns of decay or old age. Gefner tells us, that a certain Kinfman of his wrote to 

 a Goldfinch h* m concerning a Goldfinch to this purpofe : The Goldfinch lives above twenty years, 

 oi 25 years. For at Mentz when I was a child, I faw one more than twenty three years old, whofe Bill 

 and Claws were cut every Week,, thatfo it might take its meat and drinks, and ftand in 

 its place. And there is no doubt but birds that enjoy their liberty, living at large in 



the 



