The Naturalist in NicaraguaJ.M. Dent, 1928 - 306 pages |
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Page vii
... natural history , in Nicaragua and elsewhere , were the fruit of his leisure . The book is direct and vivid in style , and is full of description and suggestive discussions . With reference to it my father wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker ...
... natural history , in Nicaragua and elsewhere , were the fruit of his leisure . The book is direct and vivid in style , and is full of description and suggestive discussions . With reference to it my father wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker ...
Page x
... natural desire , to explore and understand the ways of science . I am ambitious of doing something that will deserve the praise or excite the admiration of mankind . ” When the praise and admiration came , no one could have been more ...
... natural desire , to explore and understand the ways of science . I am ambitious of doing something that will deserve the praise or excite the admiration of mankind . ” When the praise and admiration came , no one could have been more ...
Page xii
... natural science for which the locality offered the greatest opportunity . In Nova Scotia he began those investigations into the cause and phenomena of the glacial period which were to be the study of the last years of his life , and to ...
... natural science for which the locality offered the greatest opportunity . In Nova Scotia he began those investigations into the cause and phenomena of the glacial period which were to be the study of the last years of his life , and to ...
Page xvi
... natural surroundings . Nor is it neces- sary in order to attain this invisibility that the colouring should be really dull and plain . It all depends upon the habitat . Mr. Wallace has described a South American goatsucker which rests ...
... natural surroundings . Nor is it neces- sary in order to attain this invisibility that the colouring should be really dull and plain . It all depends upon the habitat . Mr. Wallace has described a South American goatsucker which rests ...
Page xviii
... of course , be understood that the mimicry is unconscious , the result , as in the cases of cryptic resemblance , having been brought Introduction xix about by natural selection — the less perfect xviii The Naturalist in Nicaragua.
... of course , be understood that the mimicry is unconscious , the result , as in the cases of cryptic resemblance , having been brought Introduction xix about by natural selection — the less perfect xviii The Naturalist in Nicaragua.
Other editions - View all
The Naturalist in Nicaragua: A Narrative of a Residence at the Gold Mines of ... Thomas Belt No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
amongst ancient animals ants Atlantic attacks beautiful beetles birds branches bushes butterflies carried cattle Central America Chontales colour continued couvade covered crossed dark Depilto dogs Ecitons feet flowers forest fresh-water fruit glacial period gold grass green Greytown ground hills humming-birds Indians inhabitants insects islands Jinotega Juigalpa lake land larvæ leaf leaf-cutting ants leaves Libertad live lodes longicorn look maize Masaya Matagalpa Mexico miles mines mountain mules Nahuatls natives nearly nest Nicaragua night numerous o'clock Ocotal passed plains plants prey probably quartz quartz veins rain range reached resemblance Rio Frio river road rocks rocky San Ubaldo Santo Domingo savannahs seen side slope soon Spaniards species spiders steep stones surface Teustepe tion told Totagalpa town trachyte travelling trees tropical America valley variety vegetation Velasquez wasps whilst wings yellow young
Popular passages
Page ix - And Nature, the old nurse, took The child upon her knee, Saying: "Here is a story-book Thy Father has written for thee." " Come, wander with me," she said, "Into regions yet untrod; And read what is still unread In the manuscripts of God." And he wandered away and away With Nature, the dear old nurse, Who sang to him night and day The rhymes of the universe. And whenever the way seemed long, Or his heart began to fail, She would sing a more wonderful song, Or tell a more marvellous tale.
Page 87 - I have seen the female sitting quietly on a branch, and two males displaying their charms in front of her. One would shoot up like JIUMMING-BIRDS a rocket, then suddenly expanding the snow-white tail like an inverted parachute, slowly descend in front of her, turning round gradually to show off both back and front. The...
Page 269 - ... at Caraccas, as well as at Calabozo, preparations were made to put the place into a state of defence against an enemy, who seemed to be advancing with heavy artillery.
Page 242 - I had an opportunity of proving in Brazil that some birds, if not all, reject the Heliconii butterflies, which are closely resembled by butterflies of other families and by moths. I observed a pair of birds that were bringing butterflies and dragonflies to their young, and although the Heliconii swarmed in the neighborhood, and are of weak flight, so as to be easily caught, the birds never brought one to their nest.
Page 48 - ... less the crimsons, purples, and yellows of Canada, where the dying foliage rivals, nay, excels, the expiring dolphin in splendour. Unknown the cold sleep of winter ; unknown the lovely awakening of vegetation at the first gentle touch of spring. A ceaseless round of ever-active life weaves the fairest scenery of the tropics into one monotonous whole, of which the component parts exhibit in detail untold variety and beauty.
Page 245 - He cannot be mistaken for any other, and his flaming vest and blue stockings show that he does not court concealment. He is very abundant in the damp woods, and I was convinced he was uneatable so soon as I made his acquaintance and saw the happy sense of security with which he hopped about. I took a few specimens home with me, and tried my fowls and ducks with them, but none would touch them.
Page 48 - Great broadleaved heliconias, leathery melastomae, and succulent-stemmed, lop-sided, leaved, and flesh-coloured begonias are abundant, and typical of tropical American forests ; but not less so are the cecropia trees, with their white stems and large palmated leaves standing up like great candelabra. Sometimes the ground is carpeted with large flowers, yellow, pink, or white, that have fallen from some invisible tree-top above ; or the air is filled with a delicious perfume, the source of which one...
Page 47 - ... passing from tree to tree, entangling the giants in a great network of coiling cables. Sometimes a tree appears covered with beautiful flowers which do not belong to it but to one of the lianas that twines through its branches and sends down great rope-like stems to the ground. Climbing ferns and vanilla cling to the trunks, and a thousand epiphytes perch themselves on the branches. Amongst these are large arums that send down long aerial roots, tough and strong, and universally used instead...
Page 25 - I once saw a wide column trying to pass along a crumbling, nearly perpendicular, slope. They would have got very slowly over it, and many of them would have fallen ; but a number having secured their hold, and reaching to each other, remained stationary, and over them the main column passed.
Page 67 - ... were continually passing and repassing. Every time they came along a number of ants were crushed to death. They persevered in crossing for some time, but at last set to work and tunnelled underneath each rail. One day, when the...