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Trochilus (crocodile Bird)
The trochilus or trochilos (Ancient Greek, Greek: wiktionary:trochilus, τροχίλος, ''trokhílos'' = "runner"), sometimes called the crocodile bird, is a legendary bird, first described by Herodotus (), and later by Aristotle, Pliny the Elder, Pliny, and Claudius Aelianus, Aelian, which was supposed to have enjoyed a Symbiosis, symbiotic relationship with the Nile crocodile: it was said to pick leeches from the crocodile's throat by Herodotus, and to pick the crocodile's teeth by Aristotle. The trochilus has subsequently been spuriously identified with several List of birds of Egypt, bird species endemic to the Nile valley. Ancient sources Herodotus According to the Histories (Herodotus), ''Histories'' of Herodotus, the Egyptian crocodiles bask on the shore with their mouths open and a bird called a "trochilus" flies into their open mouths so as to feed on the leeches which, because of the crocodiles' aquatic habitat, live there in abundance: Aristotle In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Bird
A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabirds that inhabit marine environments. Some water birds (e.g. wading birds) are more terrestrial while others (e.g. waterfowls) are more aquatic, and their adaptations will vary depending on their environment. These adaptations include webbed feet, beaks, and legs adapted to feed in the water, and the ability to dive from the surface or the air to catch prey in water. The term ''aquatic bird'' is sometimes also used in this context. A related term that has a narrower meaning is waterfowl. Some piscivorous birds of prey, such as ospreys, sea eagles, fish eagles, fish owls, and fishing owls, hunt aquatic prey but do not stay in water for long and live predominantly over dry land, and are not considered water birds. The term waterbird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy. He served an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker before becoming an itinerant Baptist preacher. He was a supporter of the temperance movement and his first foray into tourism was a railway excursion to Loughborough for members of the Leicester Temperance Society in 1841. Following the success of this excursion, Cook, by now settled with his family in Leicester, began to organise tours further afield in the British Isles and, eventually, to the United States, Egypt and the Holy Land. In 1872, he went into business with his son as '' Thomas Cook & Son'', with a head office in London. Following his retirement in 1878, he returned to Leicester and took an interest in the Baptist church and charitable work until his death. Cook is credited with having, through his a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Scherren
Henry James Wilson Scherren (10 February 1843 – 25 April 1911), usually known as Henry Scherren or in encyclopaedia articles as H. Sc. was the author of various books on natural history for adults and children, with notable illustrations including some in colour, and a contributor to the Encyclopædia Britannica on natural history topics. He was a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, of which he wrote a magnificent but inaccurate history. Life Scherren's family came from Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth in Dorset. The son of a bookseller and printer, he became a compositor and moved to London. After being educated at the new St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary College started by the Mill Hill Missionaries, he joined the Catholic Carthusian monastic order in France. However, he abandoned the order in his mid-thirties to return to secular life, going on to work on the editorial staff of Cassell (publisher), Messrs. Cassell & Co. in London for two decades. In the mid-1890s he mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Brehm
Alfred Edmund Brehm (; 2 February 1829 – 11 November 1884) was a German zoologist and writer. His multi-volume book '' Brehms Tierleben'', which he co-authored with Eduard Pechuël-Loesche, Wilhelm Haacke, and Richard Schmidtlein, became a household word for popular zoological literature. He was the first director of the Zoological Garden of Hamburg. Early life Brehm grew up in the small Thuringian village of Unter renthendorf as the son of the pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm, and of his second wife Bertha née Reiz. Christian Ludwig Brehm made a name for himself as an ornithologist by publications and through an extensive collection of stuffed birds. The collection, held in the parsonage and consisting of over 9,000 dead birds, offered a glimpse into the world of European birds. As a boy he helped expand his father by collecting specimens and became an excellent marskman. His father's research gave the younger Brehm an interest in zoology, but at first he wanted to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Leith Adams
Andrew Leith Adams FRSE, FRS (21 March 1827 – 29 July 1882) was a Scottish army physician, naturalist and geologist. He collected and described specimens of birds and mammals, writing also about his travels in Asia and the middle east where he served at various times. He was married to the novelist Bertha Jane Grundy and was the father of the writer Francis Adams. Life and career Adams was the son of surgeon Francis Adams (1796–1861) and Espeth Shaw. After the early death of his mother, he was raised by his father in Banchory-Ternan. Along with their father the sons explored natural history along the banks of the Dee and in the Grampian mountains. They collected bird specimens for their family cabinet of curiosities. He studied medicine at Marischal College, University of Aberdeen in 1846 where he was influenced by William MacGillivray. Adams joined as an army physician in 1848, initially with the 94th foot but transferring to the 22nd Infantry Regiment in India. Between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Topsell
Edward Topsell (''circa'' 1572 – 1625) was an English cleric and author best remembered for his bestiary. Topsell was born and educated in Sevenoaks, Kent. He attended Christ's College, Cambridge, earned his B.A. and probably an M.A., as well, before beginning a career in the Church of England. He served as the first rector of East Hoathly in Sussex, and subsequently became the perpetual curate of St Botolph's, Aldersgate (1604). He was the author of books on religious and moral themes, including ''The Reward of Religion'' (1596) and ''Time's Lamentation'' (1599), among others. Topsell's ''The History of Four-footed Beasts'' (1607) and ''The History of Serpents'' (1608), both published by William Jaggard, were reprinted together as ''The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents'' in 1658. An 1100-page treatise on zoology, Topsell's work repeats ancient and fantastic legends about actual animals, as well as reports of mythical animals. Topsell, not a naturalist himself, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Description Of Africa (1550 Book)
''Description of Africa'' was taken largely from the firsthand geographical work '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'' completed by Leo Africanus in 1526IL MANOSCRITTO DELLA COSMOGRAPHIA DE L'AFFRICA DI GIOVANNI LEONE AFRICANO. NOTE IN MARGINE ALL’EDIZIONE CRITICA DEL TESTO HE MANUSCRIPT OF THE COSMOGRAPHIA DE L'AFFRICA BY JOHANNES LEO AFRICANUS SOME NOTES ABOUT THE CRITICAL EDITION OF THE TEXTAuthor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Africanus
Johannes Leo Africanus (born al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī al-Fasī, ; – ) was an Andalusi diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio as '' Descrittione dell'Africa'' (''Description of Africa'') in 1550, centered on the geography of the Maghreb and Nile Valley. The book was regarded among his scholarly peers in Europe as the most authoritative treatise on the subject until the modern exploration of Africa. For this work, Leo became a household name among European geographers. He converted from Islam to Christianity and changed his name to Johannes Leo de Medicis (). Leo possibly returned to North Africa in 1528. Biography Most of what is known about his life is gathered from autobiographical notes in his own work. Leo Africanus was born as al-Hasan, son of Muhammad in Granada around the year 1494. The year of birth can be estimated from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Birds - For The Most Part Seen In The Nile Valley (1909) (14563296418) (cropped)
''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of recorded history ** Egyptian cuisine, the local culinary traditions of Egypt * Egypt, the modern country in northeastern Africa ** Egyptian Arabic, the language spoken in contemporary Egypt ** A citizen of Egypt; see Demographics of Egypt * Ancient Egypt, a civilization from c. 3200 BC to 343 BC ** Ancient Egyptians, ethnic people of ancient Egypt ** Ancient Egyptian architecture, the architectural structure style ** Ancient Egyptian cuisine, the cuisine of ancient Egypt ** Egyptian language, the oldest known language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family * Copts, the ethnic Egyptian Christian minority ** Coptic language or Coptic Egyptian, the latest stage of the Egyptian language, spoken in Egypt until the 17th cent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ichneumon (medieval Zoology)
In medieval literature, the ichneumon or echinemon was the enemy of the dragon. When it sees a dragon, the ichneumon covers itself with mud, and closing its nostrils with its tail, attacks and kills the dragon. The ichneumon was also considered by some to be the enemy of the crocodile and the asp, and attack them in the same way. The name was used for the ''pharaoh's rat'', mongoose, or Egyptian mongoose (''Herpestes ichneumon''), which attacks snakes; it can also mean ''otter''. The ichneumon is shaped similarly to a ferret, although much slimmer in its shape, and the head is elongated. Also, it is an animal that can move swiftly and is able to jump a couple of yards with a single leap. Etymology Ichneumon ( ἰχνεύμων) means "tracker" in Greek. Cockatrice, a name for another mythical beast, derives from ''calcatrix'', a Latin translation of "trample" or "tread on". The ichneumon was one of the few who could look at a cockatrice without turning to stone. Primary sources ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
