A Natural History of the Globe: Of Man, of Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, and Plants, Volume 4 |
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America animal appears approach beginning belly bill bird boats body bottom breast breed brown called coasts colour common continue countries covered creature danger deep DUCK dusky eggs England Europe eyes feathers feed feet female fins fish five flesh four frequently furnished genus goose grows GULL half head hole hundred inches inches long inhabitants keep killed kind known lakes land larger legs length less live manner middle motion mouth move native nature neck nest never observed placed plumage pounds prey rays resembles rest rivers round scales season seems seen seize seldom Serpent Shark shell ship shores short side skin sometimes soon species spines strong surface swimming tail taken teeth thick tribe turn upper usually weighs Whale whole wild wings wound yellow young
Popular passages
Page 111 - The extraordinary noise caused by the horses' hoofs makes the fish issue from the mud and excites them to the attack. These yellowish and livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface of the water and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A contest between animals of so different an organization presents a very striking spectacle.
Page 190 - May to begin their expedition ; and then sally out by thousands from the stumps of hollow trees, from the clefts of rocks, and from the holes which they dig for themselves under the surface of the earth. At that time the whole ground is covered with this band of adventurers; there is no setting down one's foot without treading upon them.
Page 38 - THE cormorant is about the size of a large Muscovy duck, and may be distinguished from all other birds of this kind, by its four toes being united by membranes together ; and by the middle toe being toothed, or notched, like a saw, to assist it in holding its fishy prey. The head and neck of this bird are of a sooty blackness ; and the body thick and heavy, more inclining in figure to that of the goose than the gull.
Page 158 - ... ocean. It is divided into distinct columns of five or six miles in length and three or four in breadth, and they drive the water before them with a kind of rippling...
Page 15 - I have heard one of them, with a loud, long note, sound a kind of charge, to which the rest punctually attended, and they pursued their journey with renewed alacrity. Their flight is very regularly arranged ; they either go in a line abreast, or in two lines, joining in an angle in the middle.
Page 276 - These erect and put themselves in motion at the word of command. When their keeper sings a slow tune, they seem by their heads to keep time ; when he sings a quicker measure, they appear to move more brisk and...
Page 87 - 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 234 - Chatsworth, with the print of a toad upon it, and a tradition of the manner in which it was found. In the memoirs of the Academy of Sciences there is an account of a toad found alive and healthy in the heart of a very thick elm without the smallest entrance or egress.
Page 40 - They hunt about, they plunge, they rise a hundred times to the surface, until they have at last found their prey. They then seize it with their beak by the middle, and carry it without fail to their master. When the fish is too large, they then give each other mutual assistance : one seizes it by the head, the other by the tail, and in this manner carry it to the boat together.
Page 275 - He then saw the manner in which the eggs of these animals lie in the womb. In this creature there were six eggs, each of the size of a goose egg, but longer, more pointed, and covered with a membranous skin, by which also they were united to each other. Each of these eggs contained from thirteen to fifteen young ones, about six inches long, and as thick as a goose-quill. Though the female from...
Bibliographic information
| Title | A Natural History of the Globe: Of Man, of Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, and Plants, Volume 4 A Natural History of the Globe: Of Man, of Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, Insects, and Plants, Georges Louis Leclerc comte de Buffon |
| Author | Georges Louis Leclerc comte de Buffon |
| Editor | John Wright (F.Z.S.) |
| Publisher | Gray & Bowen, 1831 |
| Original from | Harvard University |
| Digitized | 31 Oct 2005 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |