A Natural History of the Most Remarkable Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Serpents, Reptiles, and Insects, Volume 2C. and C. Whittingham, 1825 |
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Page 30
... feet , and drops per- pendicularly from that height . Often it is observed to stop short in its rapid course , and remain station- ary , hovering like a hawk , over the same spot for several seconds . Such is its mode in winter , when ...
... feet , and drops per- pendicularly from that height . Often it is observed to stop short in its rapid course , and remain station- ary , hovering like a hawk , over the same spot for several seconds . Such is its mode in winter , when ...
Page 35
... feet and claws are black . The female differs considerably from the male , her colours are not so vivid : the top of her head and back are of a gray ash colour , and the chin is white . The Redstart is migratory ; it appears about the ...
... feet and claws are black . The female differs considerably from the male , her colours are not so vivid : the top of her head and back are of a gray ash colour , and the chin is white . The Redstart is migratory ; it appears about the ...
Page 40
... feet are a sort of lead colour . These birds feed on insects , seeds , and fruit . They often excite alarm in the owners of gardens , under the idea that they are destroying the buds , while in fact , they are engaged in the beneficial ...
... feet are a sort of lead colour . These birds feed on insects , seeds , and fruit . They often excite alarm in the owners of gardens , under the idea that they are destroying the buds , while in fact , they are engaged in the beneficial ...
Page 46
... feet black . They principally feed on bees , beetles , grasshop- pers , and other insects . They build in hollow places or caverns five or six feet deep , and lay six or seven eggs . THE HUMMINGBIRD . Of this curious little bird there ...
... feet black . They principally feed on bees , beetles , grasshop- pers , and other insects . They build in hollow places or caverns five or six feet deep , and lay six or seven eggs . THE HUMMINGBIRD . Of this curious little bird there ...
Page 53
... tionless , and in a melancholy posture , till the cravings of the stomach compel them to seek for food . When they have raised themselves about thirty or forty feet above the surface of the sea , they turn their BIRDS . 53.
... tionless , and in a melancholy posture , till the cravings of the stomach compel them to seek for food . When they have raised themselves about thirty or forty feet above the surface of the sea , they turn their BIRDS . 53.
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Common terms and phrases
anal fins animal aperture appears ash colour bait beautiful bill bird black spots BLACKCAP blue body breed brown caught chaffinch chiefly claws coasts common covered dark dorsal fin duck dusky edges England eyes feed female lays fish flesh flocks frequently frogs gills gray green half hatched head holes inches in length inches long inhabits insects islands JACK SNIPE kind Lapwing lateral line lays four legs Lincolnshire lour mackerel male mandible membrane middle mouth native neck nest nostrils orange colour pale pectoral fins placed plumage pounds prey quill feathers rays reddish resembles rivers round scales season seen seize seldom shell shores sides Silure silvery skin slender sometimes spawn species spines SPOONBILL surface Surinam swallow tail teeth thick throat TITMOUSE tongue Toucan transverse trees tribe upper ventral fins weighs wings winter worms yellow young
Popular passages
Page 10 - The length of the peacock, from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail', is about three feet eight inches.
Page 80 - The great blue heron (Ardea herodias) is about four feet in length from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, and nearly six feet across the wings.
Page 136 - THE electric organs of the torpedo are placed on each side of the cranium and gills, reaching from thence to the semicircular cartilages of each great fin, and extending longitudinally from the anterior extremity of the animal to the transverse cartilage, which divides the thorax from the abdomen...
Page 46 - The feathers on its wings and tail are black ; but those on its body, and under its wings, are of a greenish brown, with a fine red cast or gloss, which no silk or velvet can imitate. It has a small crest on its head, green at the bottom, and as it were gilded at the top ; and which sparkles in the sun like a little star in the middle of its forehead. The bill is black, straight, slender, and of the length of a small pin.
Page 163 - Pike is very flat, the eyes small, and of a gold tinge; the upper jaw broad, and shorter than the lower, which turns up a little at the end, and is marked with minute punctures ; the teeth are very sharp, disposed not only in the front of the upper jaw, but in both sides of the lower, in the roof of the mouth, and has often three rows upon the tongue, and even down to the Orifice of the Stc..
Page 68 - Swans were formerly held in such great esteem in England, that, by an act of Edward the Fourth, none, except the son of the king, was permitted to keep a Swan, unless possessed of a freehold to the value of five marks a year.
Page 212 - The least effort then will destroy them; they scarcely can make any resistance; and equally unqualified for flight or opposition, even the naked Indians do not fear to assail them. But it is otherwise when this sleeping interval of digestion is over; they then issue, with famished appetites, from their retreats, while every animal of the forest flies from their presence.
Page 236 - They fly into the flame of candles, and sometimes into the dishes ; are very fond of ink and of oil, into which they are apt to fall and perish. In this case they soon turn...
Page 106 - These are olive coloured, and spotted with black. She sits about three weeks; and the young, who are covered with a thick down, are able to run within two or three days after they are hatched. The parent displays the fondest attachment to them, and employs innumerable interesting stratagems to avert approaching danger from them.
Page 92 - Now like a wearied stag, That stands at bay, the hern provokes their rage ; Close by his languid wing, in downy plumes Covers his fatal beak, and cautious hides The well-dissembled fraud. The falcon darts Like lightning from above, and in her breast Receives the latent death : down plump she falls Bounding from earth, and with her trickling gore Defiles her gaudy plumage.