88 
BIRD-LIFE. 
year to the very end of life ! Yet this is the boon which 
Nature grants to birds on each succeeding year; and 
when death suddenly strikes its victim it can scarcely be 
called a terror, as there is no wearisome sickness, and no 
lingering on in misery and in pain. 
The majority of birds attain to a vigorous old age. The 
Eagle is especially celebrated for this: in the year 1719 
one died at Vienna, after a captivity of 104 years, even 
though it had been denied the greatest earthly blessing 
—liberty! Similar cases of longevity are related of 
Parrots. Humboldt writes as follows:—“ Thus runs 
the tradition among the Guareka Indians, that the 
brave tribe of Aturer, pressed on all sides by the 
cannibal Carribes, took refuge among the crags and 
caves of the cataracts; a wild, sad retreat, where the 
oppressed race, and with them their language, passed 
away. In the most inaccessible part of the Baudal, 
rocky caverns are to he found, where it is probable 
that the last remaining family of the ‘ Aturers ’ has but 
lately died out; for in 6 Maypures ’ there exists an old 
Parrot, whose language the natives cannot understand. 
The explanation they give is, that he speaks in the 
tongue of the ‘Aturers/ This bird has been made the 
subject of a beautiful poem.”* The age of other birds 
may possibly be estimated in similar proportion. The 
lesser may naturally be supposed not to live as long 
as the larger. It must, however, always be borne in 
mind, that all birds arrive at an age, equivalent, at least, 
to ten times that required to reach maturity. Possibly 
the little Warblers rarely exceed the age of ten years; 
but they attain their full growth within the first year of 
their life. Where I formerly resided we had a Garden 
* ‘ Ansichten der Natur,’ 3 Aufl. § 284. 
