Natural history. Reptiles

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Page 16 - ... a little time for it to eat on the road. During the breeding season, when the male and female are together, the male utters a hoarse roar or bellowing...
Page 17 - The inhabitants believe that these animals are absolutely deaf; certainly they do not overhear a person walking close behind them. I was always amused, when overtaking one of these great monsters as it was quietly pacing along, to see how suddenly, the instant I passed, it would draw in its head and legs, and uttering a deep hiss fall to the ground with a heavy sound, as if struck dead.
Page 15 - Near the springs it was a curious spectacle to behold many of these huge creatures, one set eagerly travelling onwards with outstretched necks, and another set returning, after having drunk their fill.
Page 278 - Certainly not; in dry seasons they are seldom found here, but after great rains they are often abundant. I think it cannot be doubted, that their natural residence is in an extensive deep subterranean lake, from which, in great floods, they sometimes are forced through the crevices of the rocks into this place where they are found ; and it does not appear to me impossible, when the peculiar nature of the country in which we are is considered, that the same great cavity may furnish the individuals...
Page 43 - ... she, with a spring from each flapper, sends the sand around her, scattering it to the distance of several feet. In this manner the hole is dug to the depth of eighteen inches, or sometimes more than two feet. This labor I have seen performed in the short period of nine minutes.
Page 16 - For some time after a visit to the springs, their urinary bladders are distended with fluid, which is said gradually to decrease in volume, and to become less pure. The inhabitants, when walking in the lower district, and overcome with thirst, often take advantage of this circumstance...
Page 178 - The poor goat, in the mean time, continued its feeble and half-stifled cries for some minutes, but they soon became more and more faint, and at last \ it expired. The snake, however, retained it for a considerable time in its grasp, after it was apparently motionless. He then began slowly and cautiously to...
Page 15 - The tortoise is very fond of water, drinking large quantities and wallowing in the mud. The larger islands alone possess springs, and these are always situated towards the central parts, and at a considerable height.
Page 176 - ... escape ; and it had a sliding door, for the purpose of admitting the articles on which he was to subsist; the dimensions of the crib were about four feet high, and about five feet square; a space sufficiently large to allow him to coil himself round with ease. The live stock for his use during the passage, consisting of six goats of the ordinary size, were sent with him on board, five being considered as a fair allowance for as many months. At an early period of the voyage we had an exhibition...
Page 15 - ... eyes, and greedily swallows great mouthfuls, at the rate of about ten in a minute. The inhabitants say each animal stays three or four days in the...

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