The Standard Library of Natural History: Embracing Living Animals of the World and Living Races of Mankind, 2. kötet

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University Society, 1908

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318. oldal - The former animal is much larger than the latter, being sometimes more than ten feet in length from the nose to the root of the tail, and measuring between six and seven feet in height at the shoulder. Its...
338. oldal - In the course of a day's ride, near Bahia Blanca, several were generally met with. The instant one was perceived, it was necessary, in order to catch it, almost to tumble off one's horse; for in soft soil the animal burrowed so quickly, that its hinder quarters would almost disappear before one could alight. It seems almost a pity to kill such nice little animals, for as a Gaucho said, while sharpening his knife on the back of one, " Son tan mansos
307. oldal - Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief enemy the puma, or does curiosity overcome their timidity ? That they are curious is certain : for if a person lies on the ground and plays strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him.
457. oldal - ... and all were filled with ducks. A windmill was infested, and so were all the outhouses, mounds, rocks, and crevices. The ducks were everywhere. Many of them were so tame that we could stroke them on their nests ; and the good lady told us that there was scarcely a duck on the island which Would not allow her to take its eggs without flight or fear.
385. oldal - The cock when on the nest lies very close; I have myself almost ridden over one. It is asserted that at such times they are occasionally fierce, and even dangerous, and that they have been known to attack a man on horseback, trying to kick and leap on him. My informer pointed out to me an old man, whom he had seen much terrified by one chasing him.
462. oldal - Except when rising from the ground, I do not recollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wings. Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes: they moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, descending and ascending without giving a single flap.
386. oldal - ... hens, as is stated to be the case, combined together, then the eggs in one collection would be nearly of the same age. If the number of eggs in one of these nests is, as I believe, not greater on an average than the number laid by one female in the season, then there must be as many nests as females, and each cock-bird will have its fair share of the labour of incubation, and that during a period when the females probably could not sit from not having finished laying.
385. oldal - Out of the four nests which I saw, three contained twenty-two eggs each, and the fourth twentyseven. In one day's hunting on horseback sixty-four eggs were found ; forty-four of these were in two nests, and the remaining twenty scattered huachos.
457. oldal - On the coast was a wall built of large stones, just above the high-water level, about three feet in height and of considerable thickness. At the bottom, on both sides of it, alternate stones had been left out, so as to form a series of square compartments for the ducks to make their nests in.
397. oldal - The bird utters almost continuously the most strange noises : " he holds his tail up and spreads it out like a " fan, he lifts up his head and neck with all the feathers " erect, and stretches his wings from the body. Then '• he takes a few jumps in different directions...

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