Ornithological Dictionary of British Birds

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Hurst, Chance, and Company, 1831 - Birds - 592 pages

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Page 396 - And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.
Page 553 - This castle hath a pleasant seat ; the air Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself Unto our gentle senses. BAN. This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve By his loved mansionry that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here : no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle : Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed The air is delicate.
Page 155 - Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear, as it disappears in the deep, making the surges foam around ! At this moment the eager looks of the eagle are all...
Page 400 - Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry : the difficulty whetted their inclinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But, when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was...
Page 32 - ... the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill.
Page 37 - who have walked in an evening by the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers, must remember a variety of notes from different water-fowl ; the loud scream of the wild goose, the croaking of the mallard, the whining of the lap-wing, and the tremulous neighing of the jack-snipe. But of all those sounds there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern.
Page xvii - The jay, the pie, and e'en the boding owl That hails the rising moon, have charms for me. Sounds inharmonious in themselves, and harsh, Yet, heard in scenes where peace for...
Page 32 - ... and also the trunks and bodies, with the branches of old and rotten trees cast up there likewise, whereon is found a certain spume or froth, that in time breedeth...
Page 157 - The nest of this species is generally fixed on a very large and lofty tree, often in a swamp or morass, and difficult to be ascended. On some noted tree of this description, often a pine or cypress, the bald eagle builds, year after year, for a long series of years.
Page 279 - ... ejected, as is done by all birds of prey, being dried on purpose to form the nest, they are scattered about the floor of the hole in all directions, from its entrance to its termination, without the least order or working up with the earth, and all moist and fetid.

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