A Natural History of the Most Remarkable Quadrupeds, Birds, Fishes, Serpents, Reptiles, and Insects, Том 1

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C. and C. Whittingham, 1825

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Страница 140 - Again they rise, their jaws clap together, re-echoing through the deep surrounding forests. Again they sink, when the contest ends at the muddy bottom of the lake, and the vanquished makes a hazardous escape, hiding himself in the muddy turbulent waters and sedge on a distant shore.
Страница 164 - It seems among birds what the sloth is among quadrupeds, an unresisting thing, equally incapable of flight or defence. It is furnished with wings, covered with soft ash-coloured feathers, but they are too short to assist it in flying. It is furnished with a tail, with a few small curled feathers; but this tail is disproportioned and displaced. Its legs are too short for running, and its body too fat to be strong. One would take it for a tortoise that had supplied itself with the feathers of a bird;...
Страница 208 - It remains with us the whole year, and in great flocks frequents churches, old towers, and ruins, and sometimes, though rarely, even chimneys, hollow trees, and rabbit burrows, where it builds its nest: the female o2 lays five or six eggs, paler than those of the crow, and smaller.
Страница 161 - ... which, on plain ground, it treads very securely ; in its course it uses a very odd kind of 'action, lifting up one wing, which it keeps elevated for a time ; till letting it drop, it lifts up the other.
Страница 151 - That with the muzzle of a dog is the most common, being about six inches in length, from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail.
Страница 177 - England, is about twenty inches in length, and four feet and a half in breadth, when measured across the expansion of the wings. The lower parts of the body are pale, varied with brown; on the upper parts dusky bars of a darker hue, mark the wings and tail, the latter of which is grayish beneath, and tipped with dusky white. The legs are yellow, the claws black, and the bill leadcolored, short, and hooked.
Страница 140 - Behold him rushing forth from the flags and reeds. His enormous body swells. His plaited tail brandished high, floats upon the lake. The waters like a cataract descend from his opening jaws. Clouds of smoke issue from his dilated nostrils. The earth trembles with his thunder. When immediately from the opposite coast of the lagoon, emerges from the deep his rival champion. They suddenly dart upon each other. The boiling surface of the lake marks their rapid course, and a terrific conflict commences.
Страница 136 - They begin by raising the earth, and forming a pretty high arch. They leave partitions, or a kind of pillars, at certain distances, beat and press the earth, interweave it with the roots of plants, and render it so hard and solid, that the water cannot penetrate the vault, on account of its convexity and firmness. They then elevate a little hillock under the principal arch ; upon the latter they lay herbs and leaves for a bed to their young. In this situation they are above the level of the ground,...
Страница 169 - ... prey with which it is replenished. " The eyes of the Eagle have the glare of those of the lion, and are nearly of the same colour ; the claws are of the same shape; the organs of sound are equally powerful, and the cry equally terrible*.
Страница 140 - Miguel was awakened early in the morning by violent shakes, and a horrible noise. Clods of earth were thrown into the middle of the hut. Presently a young crocodile two or three feet long issued from under the bed, darted at a dog that lay on * Passo dc U rituat.

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