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.*)* 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 1511 (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.” 
