A History of the Earth, and Animated Nature, Volume 3T. T. Ash, 1823 |
Contents
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Common terms and phrases
animal appears appetites barn owl beak beautiful belly bill bird's birds birds of prey body breast breed brood brown Buffon bustard called cassowary chiefly claws climate cock colour continues covered creature cuckoo devour eagle eggs elephant enemy extremely eyes falcon feathers feed feet female flesh flight flocks forests formed former furnished Greenland habits hair hatched hawk head hole horned owl horns inches long insects legs length less live male manner monkey moulting native nature neck nest never ostrich pangolin parrot peacock peculiar plumage poultry kind prey pursue quadrupeds quail quills rapacious raven resembles rest retreat rhinoceros round scarcely season seems seen seldom short side skin sometimes species tail teeth thick tion toes toucan trees tribe turkey upper usually variety vulture whole wild wings winter woods young
Popular passages
Page 370 - Its egg is not ready for incubation till some weeks after its arrival, seldom before the middle of May. A fortnight is taken up by the sitting bird in hatching the egg. The young bird generally continues three weeks in the nest before it flies, and the...
Page 212 - ... of thought or common sense. She mistakes a piece of chalk for an egg, and sits upon it in the same manner. She is insensible of any increase or diminution in the number of those she lays. She does not distinguish between her own and...
Page 211 - Animals in their generation are wiser than the sons of men ; but their wisdom is confined to a few particulars, and lies in a very narrow compass. Take a brute out of his instinct, and you find him wholly deprived of understanding.
Page 211 - With what caution does the hen provide herself a nest in places unfrequented, and free from noise and disturbance! When she has laid her eggs in such a manner that she can cover them, what care does she take in turning them frequently, that all parts may partake of the vital warmth...
Page 364 - ... distance from each other. The grass with which they build is called the Boshman's grass, and I believe the seed of it to be their principal food, though, on examining their nests, I found the wings and legs of different insects. From every appearance, the nest which I dissected had been inhabited for many years, and some parts were much more complete than others.
Page 430 - 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. 4. It is inconceivable how much these birds add to the high finishing and beauty...
Page 431 - There are never more than two eggs found in the nest; these are about the size of small peas, and as white as snow, with here and there a yellow speck. The male and the female sit upon the nest by turns ; but the female takes to herself the greatest share. She seldom quits the...
Page 378 - This sagacity which parrots show in a domestic state, seems also natural to them in their native residence among the woods. They live together in flocks, and mutually assist each other against other animals, either by their courage or their notes of warning. They generally breed in hollow trees, where they make a round hole, and do not line their nests within.
Page 370 - I examined the nest of a hedge-sparrow, which then contained a cuckoo's and three hedge-sparrow's eggs. On inspecting it the day following, I found the bird had hatched, but that the nest now contained only a young cuckoo and one young hedge-sparrow. The nest was placed so near the extremity of a hedge, that I could distinctly see what was going forward in it; and, to my astonishment, saw the young cuckoo, though so newly hatched, in the act of turning out the young hedge-sparrow.
Page 408 - With what musical propriety are the sounds it produces modulated ! The note at one time drawn out with a long breath, now stealing off into a different cadence, now interrupted by a break, then changing into a new note by an unexpected transition, now seeming to renew the same strain, then deceiving expectation.