The class AvesGeo. B. Whittaker, 1829 |
Frases i termes més freqüents
Africa aliment America appears band Bee-eater belly beneath bill birds blackish blue body Brazil breast brood brown bunting cage canary Cayenne chaffinch cheeks colour Corvus Creeper crest cuckow edge eggs Emberiza Europe feathers feed female Finch flocks forehead frequently Fringilla genus Goatsucker goldfinch green grey Grosbeak ground habits hatching head and neck Holland inches inhabits insects Islands Java Kingfisher lark larvæ Lath Latham linnet live Loxia male mandible middle Montbeillard moulting naturalists Naum nest nestle nightingale North America observed Oriolus Paraguay Parrakeet Parrot perch plumage quills reddish rufous rump season Senegal sides sing sometimes song South sparrows species Spix spot swallows tail-feathers Temminck throat titmice Titmouse toes Top of head Toucan trees underneath upper Vail Vaill Vieil Vieillot warbler whitish wing-coverts wings and tail winter Woodpecker woods yellow yellowish young
Passatges populars
Pàgina 257 - ... cannoneer, with a cap on its head, a firelock on its shoulder, and a match in its claw, and discharged a small cannon. The same bird also acted as if it had been wounded. It was wheeled in a barrow, to convey it, as it were to the hospital ; after which it flew away before the company. The seventh turned a kind of windmill ; and the last bird stood in the midst of some fire-works which were discharged all round it, and this without exhibiting the least symptom of fear.
Pàgina 86 - ... into a deep cage, four feet long, with gravel at the bottom ; a broad shallow pan with water was placed in it, in which they sometimes washed themselves, and seemed much strengthened by it. One day Mr Pearson observed, that they went into the water with unusual eagerness, hurrying in and out again repeatedly with such swiftness as if they had been suddenly seized with a frenzy. Being anxious to see the result, he left them to themselves about half an hour, and...
Pàgina 244 - ... do with a friend, through the lattice of a prison, gave a small worm to each. This parental intercourse continued regularly for some time, till the young ones were completely fledged, and had acquired a considerable degree of strength. I then took one of the strongest of them and placed him on the outside of the cage, in order to observe the conduct of the parents, after one of their offspring was emancipated. In a few minutes both parents arrived as usual, loaded with food.
Pàgina 256 - One appeared dead, and was held up by the tail or claw without exhibiting any signs of life. A second stood on its head, with its claws in the air. A third imitated a Dutch milkmaid going to market, with pails on its shoulders. A fourth mimicked a Venetian girl looking out at a window.
Pàgina 16 - It can sustain the song uninterrupted during twenty seconds, and the sphere which its voice can fill is at least a mile in diameter. Song is so peculiarly the attribute of this species, that even the female possesses it, less strong and varied, it is true, than that of the male, but as to the rest entirely resembling it ; even in its dreaming sleep the nightingale warbles.
Pàgina 243 - I perceived, with some degree of astonishment, both the parents following me at some distance, and observing my motions in perfect silence. A thought then struck me, that they might follow me home, and feed the young according to their usual manner. When just entering the door, I held up the nest, and made the young ones utter the cry which is expressive of the desire of food.
Pàgina 244 - ... him how easily the journey was to be accomplished. He at last committed himself to the air, and alighted in safety. On his arrival, another scene of clamorous and active joy was exhibited. Next day I repeated the same experiment, by exposing another of the young ones on the top of the cage. I observed the same conduct with the remainder of the brood, which consisted of four. I need hardly add that not one either of the parents or the children ever afterwards revisited the execrated cage.
Pàgina 16 - ... embellishments. In calm weather, in the fine nights of spring, when its voice is heard alone, undisturbed by any other sound, nothing can be more ravishing and delightful ; then it developes, in their utmost plenitude, all the resources of its incomparable organ ; but from the...
Pàgina 241 - This calculation he founds upon actual observation. He discovered that the two parents carried to the nest forty caterpillars in an hour. He supposed the sparrows to enter the nest only during twelve hours each...
Pàgina 557 - Nat,' vi. 29.) Somo of these birds were among the discoveries made in the course of an expedition sent out by that prince. They came apparently from the neighbourhood of the Red Sea ; and it is probable that, as that country became more known, numbers of the same race were imported from it into Rome, and formed the chief part of those victims of the Parrot tribes which in after-times are said to have supplied the inordinate luxury and wantonness of Heliogobalus.