A History of the Earth and Animated Nature, Volume 1Printed at the Apollo Press, by and for W. Davison, 1810 |
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Common terms and phrases
animal appears ash-colour beautiful bill bird black spots blackish blue body breast and belly breed brown coast colour common common Buzzard covered deep devour duck dusky eggs England Europe eyes feathers feeds feet long female fins FISH Plate fishermen five flesh flocks four frequently frogs furnished Godwit green Greenland grey hatched head and neck inches long inhabitants insects kind Lapwing lays legs light Lincolnshire live male middle mouth native nest numbers ocean ostrich pale parrots Plate 89 Plate 91 plumage porpoise pounds prey quadrupeds resembles rivers round scales SEA ADDER sea fowl seen seldom serpent shark sharp shell shore sides skin slender snail sometimes weighs species spermaceti swallow swan swim sword fish tail teeth ther thick throat thrush TITMOUSE trees tribe upper voracious whale whale louse white shark whole wings worms yellow yellowish young
Popular passages
Page 211 - Europe are they sufficiently numerous to be truly terrible ; the philosopher can meditate in the fields without danger, and the lover seek the grove without fearing any wounds but those of metaphor. The various malignity that has been ascribed to European serpents of old, is now utterly unknown ; there are not above three or four kinds that are dangerous, and their poison operates in all in the same manner. A burning pain in the part, easily...
Page 121 - It is near six inches in length from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, the former being about half an inch, and the latter two inches and a half.
Page 141 - ... but the swordfish is as active as the other is strong, and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its enemy, and endeavours not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges.
Page 204 - There is yet another way, which, though seemingly awkward, is said to be attended with very great success. A good diver places himself at the head of the boat; and when the turtles are observed, which they sometimes are in great numbers, asleep on the surface, he immediately quits the vessel at about fifty yards...
Page 124 - ... Its four toes are all webbed together; and its neck, in some measure, resembles that of a swan: but that singularity in which it differs from all other birds, is in the bill, and the great pouch underneath, which are wonderful, and demand a distinct description. This enormous bill is fifteen inches from the point to the opening of the mouth, which is a good way back behind the eyes.
Page 209 - May, which at first appears like drops of candle-grease, and sticks to any hard substance it falls upon. These are covered with a shell in two or three days; and in three years the animal is large enough to be brought to market. As they invariably remain in the places where they are laid, and as they grow without any other seeming food than the afflux of...
Page 244 - When the bees begin to work in their hives they divide themselves into four companies ; one of which roves in the fields in search of materials ; another employs itself in laying out the bottom and partitions of their cells ; a third is employed in making the inside smooth from the corners and angles ; and the fourth company brings food for the rest, or relieves those who return with their respective burdens.
Page 104 - A female, while in the act of sitting, observed a fox swimming towards her from the opposite shore: she instantly darted into the water, and having kept him at bay for a considerable time with her wings, at last succeeded in drowning him ; after which, in the sight of several persons, she returned to her nest in triumph. This circumstance took place at Pensy in Buckinghamshire.
Page 127 - ... in fixed repose. When they have raised themselves about thirty or forty feet above the surface of the sea, they turn their head with one eye downwards, and continue to fly in that posture. As soon as they perceive a fish sufficiently near...
Page 204 - When the turtle has done laying, she returns to the sea, and leaves her eggs to be hatched by the heat of the sun. At the end of fifteen days she lays about the same number of eggs again ; and at the end of another fifteen days she repeats the same ; three times in all, using the same precautions every time for safety.