Poachers and PoachingChapman and Hall, 1891 - 327 pages |
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animals autumn beautiful British birds brown burrows captured colour comes common snipe covered crag creatures cuckoo dark dead decoys distance dotterel eggs eiders fact falcon feed fell female ferrets fish flies flocks fowl frequently grass green ground grouse habits hares hatched haunts heron holes hundred insect interesting invariably jack snipe keeper killed kingfisher known land lapwing larvæ male miles an hour mountain naturalists nature nest nets never night observed otter pair partridge pheasants pigeons plover plumage poacher poaching powers of flight prey rabbits rarely red grouse remarkable river salmon salmon and trout scoter seen shot silent trade snipe snow sometimes spawn species speed spot stoat stone summer surf scoter swallow taken teal thousand tiny trees trout streams tufted duck unfrequently velvet scoter watch weather whilst wings winter woodcock woods young
Popular passages
Page 110 - But the Nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes such sweet loud music out of her little instrumental throat, that it might make mankind to think miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say, Lord, what music hast thou provided for the Saints in Heaven, when thou...
Page 112 - But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act, Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive Against thy mother aught; leave her to heaven, And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge To prick and sting her. Fare thee well at once. The glow-worm shows the matin to be near, And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire; Adieu, adieu, adieu, remember me.
Page 86 - All day the hoary meteor fell; And, when the second morning shone, We looked upon a world unknown, On nothing we could call our own. Around the glistening wonder bent The blue walls of the firmament, No cloud above, no earth below, — A universe of sky and snow!
Page 326 - I took in February three tablespoonfuls of mud from three different points, beneath water on the edge of a little pond ; this mud when dried weighed only 6^ ounces ; I kept it covered up in my study for six months, pulling up and counting each plant as it grew ; the plants were of many kinds and were altogether 537 in number and yet the viscid mud was all contained in a breakfast cup...
Page 213 - Great brown ducks sat upon their nests in masses, and at every step started up from under our feet. It was with difficulty that we avoided treading on some of the nests. The island being but three-quarters of a mile in width, the opposite shore was soon reached.
Page 180 - ... like a plummet from his roost, and seize unerringly any little truant which passed within his ken. The appetite of this bird was miraculous ; I never saw him satisfied. He would sit for hours on a projecting bough, his body almost perpendicular, his head thrown back between his shoulders, eyeing with an abstracted air the heavens above or the rocks around him ; he seemed intent only upon exhibiting the glorious lustre of his plumage and the brilliant colours with which his azure back was shaded....
Page 83 - ... she had just seen a horse with a white leg running away at a monstrous rate, and another horse, a great way behind, trying to run after him; but she was sure he would never catch the white-legged horse if he ran to the world's end.
Page 326 - I took in February three table-spoonfuls of mud from three different points, beneath water, on the edge of a little pond; this mud when dry weighed only 6% ounces; I kept it covered up in my study for six months, pulling up and counting each plant as it grew; the plants were of many kinds, and were altogether 537 in number; and yet the viscid mud was all contained in a breakfast cup!
Page 168 - Weybridgc to Chertsey, or on to Laleham, during the latter end of the month of April or early in May, and take particular and special notice of what the swans are doing, If he has still any doubt, and likes to kill one or two and cut them open, he will solve his doubts and do a service at the same time ; he may be fined for it, but he will certainly suffer for a good action and in a good cause. A swan can and will devour a gallon of fishspawn every day while the spawn remains unhatched, if he can...
Page 175 - ... its beak through the head of an eel, piercing both eyes ; the eel thus held had coiled itself so tightly round the neck of the heron as to stop the bird's respiration, and both were dead.