Wild Animals in Captivity: Being an Account of the Habits, Food, Management and Treatment of the Beasts and Birds at the 'Zoo,' with Reminiscences and Anecdotes

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Chapman and Hall, 1898 - Animal behavior - 373 pages
 

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Page 313 - I saw a slit, only about half an inch wide and three or four inches long, in a slight hollow of the tree. Thinking the word ' Korwe' denoted some small animal, I waited with interest to see what he would extract; he broke the clay which surrounded the slit, put his arm into the hole, and brought out a Tockus, or Red-breasted Hornbill, which he killed.
Page 230 - He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.
Page 230 - And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations. 29 So they did eat, and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire...
Page 234 - It is highly interesting to trace, in imagination, the effects of the passage of these rafts from the mouth of a large river to some archipelago, such as those in the South Pacific, raised from the deep, in comparatively modern times, by the operations of the volcano and the earthquake, and the joint labours of coral animals and testacea. If a storm arise, and the frail vessel be wrecked, still many a bird and insect may succeed in gaining...
Page 314 - The female makes a nest of her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches them, and remains with the young till they are fully fledged. During all this time, which is stated to be two or three months, the male continues to feed her and the young family. The prisoner generally becomes quite fat, and is esteemed a very dainty morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a husband gets so lean that, on the sudden lowering of the temperature which sometimes happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls...
Page 340 - It sits on a nearly upright twig, the wings fitting closely back to back, concealing the antennse and head, which are drawn up between their bases. The little tails of the hind wing touch the branch, and form a perfect stalk to the leaf, which is supported in its place by the claws of the middle pair of feet, which are slender and inconspicuous. The irregular outline of the wings gives exactly the perspective effect of a shrivelled leaf. We...
Page 313 - ... out her head. Here she must sit during her incubation, for if she breaks through the inclosure her life pays the forfeit ; but to compensate for the loss of freedom, her spirited mate is ever on the alert to gratify his dainty mistress, who compels him to bring all her viands unbroken, for if a fig or any fruit be injured she will not touch it.
Page 235 - The thorny spray is torn off, and fixes itself in his hairy coat, until brushed off again in other thickets and copses. Even on the spot where the victim is devoured many of the seeds which he had swallowed immediately before the...
Page 340 - They were never seen to settle on a flower or a green leaf, but were many times lost sight of in a bush or tree of dead leaves. On such occasions they were generally searched for in vain, for while gazing intently at the very spot where one had disappeared, it would often suddenly dart out, and again vanish twenty or fifty yards further on.
Page 246 - Fort Union that the prong-horned antelope dropped its horns, but as no person had ever shot or killed one without these ornamental and useful appendages, we managed to prove the contrary to the men at the fort by knocking off the bony part of the horn and showing the hard, spongy membrane beneath, well attached to the skull and perfectly immovable.

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