The Romance of the Animal World: Interesting Descriptions of the Strange & Curious in Natural HistoryJ.B. Lippincott, 1905 - 323 pages |
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alligator America amidst amongst animal antelope ants appearance arctic foxes assegai attack beavers become birds bizcacha body bombardier beetle bower Bower-bird burrows cachalot called claws crab creature curious cuttlefish devoured doubt Ecitons eggs enemy feet female fierce fish Gaucho gorilla grass habits head huge inches Indians insects instance interesting jaguar jaws killed kind kraken larvæ latter leap least leaves legs length live lodge look Maldonada male monkeys mound mouth naturalist nature nest never pair peccaries penguins perhaps pilot-fish pond prey probably pull puma remora resemblance round sable antelope seems seen seized shark side skuas snake snake-stone sometimes soon sort South America species spider spring surface swim sword-fish tail teeth tentacles thing thread thresher trap trapper trees walk walrus wasps whale whilst whole wild wolverine wonderful wood young
Popular passages
Page 104 - Go to the Ant, thou Sluggard, consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Page 222 - The crocodile," continues the historian, " is blind in the water, but very quick-sighted on land ; and because it lives for the most part in the water, its mouth is filled with leeches. All other, birds and beasts avoid him, but he is at peace with the trochilus, because he receives benefit from that bird ; for when the crocodile gets out of the water on land, and then opens its jaws, which it does most commonly toward the west, the trochilus enters its mouth and swallows the leeches. The crocodile...
Page 328 - We picked him up, and I dressed his wounds as well as I could with rags torn from my clothes. When I had given him a little brandy to drink he came to himself, and was able, but with great difficulty, to speak. He said that he had met the gorilla suddenly and face to face, and that it had not attempted to escape. It was, he said, a huge male, and seemed very savage.
Page 55 - ... mistaken for a quadruped. When at sea and fishing, it comes to the surface for the purpose of breathing with such a spring, and dives again so instantaneously, that I defy any one at first sight to be sure that it was not a fish leaping for sport.
Page 120 - I ascertained only after longcontinued observation, is as follows. The main column, from four to six deep, moves forward in a given direction, clearing the ground of all animal matter dead or alive, and throwing off here and there, a thinner column to forage for a short time on the flanks of the main army, and re-enter it again after their task is accomplished. If some very rich place be encountered anywhere near the line of march, for example, a mass of rotten wood abounding in insect larvae, a...
Page 328 - We were already on our way to the spot where we hoped to see a gorilla slain, when the forest began to resound with the most terrific roars. Gambo seized my arms in great agitation, and we hurried on, both filled with a dreadful and sickening alarm. We had not gone far when our worst fears were realized.
Page 119 - I heard of no instance of their entering houses, their ravages being confined to the thickest parts of the forest. When the pedestrian falls in with a train of these ants, the first signal given him is a twittering and restless movement of small flocks of plain-coloured birds (antthrushes) in the jungle.
Page 39 - Solenopsis fugax, which makes its chambers and galleries in the walls of the nests of larger species, is the bitter enemy of its hosts. The latter cannot get at them, because they are too large to enter the galleries. The little Solenopsis, therefore, are quite safe, and, as it appears, make incursions into the nurseries of the larger ant, and carry off the larvae as food.
Page 79 - The head and neck is of a pure straw yellow above, and rich metallic green beneath. The long plumy tufts of golden orange feathers spring from the sides beneath each wing, and when the bird is in repose are partly concealed by them. ' At the time of its excitement, however, the wings are raised vertically over the back, the head is bent down and stretched out, and the long plumes...