9 THE ENGLISH REDBREAST AND THE AMERICAN ROBIN

英国的知更鸟和美国的知更鸟

1. When our ancestors first came from Old England to America, they brought with them the old associations and recollections of the home they were leaving. Unwilling to part at once with these old and dear associations, they sought to keep alive many familiar names by bestowing them upon similar objects in America. In so doing they have caused much confusion. The same terms do not mean the same things in Old England and in New England.

2. The ivy of Europe is a very different plant from the poisonous species of sumac which is here called by that name. Our New England dogwood is also a sumac, and not a true dogwood. Our woodbine is not the same vine meant in English books by that name; and the Robin of North America is totally unlike the dear old Robin Redbreast, whose benevolent attentions to the unfortunate Babes in the Wood have invested the name of Robin with the affectionate associations of childhood, wherever the English language is spoken.

3. The Robin Redbreast more nearly resembles our common Bluebird than any other of our native birds, although the latter is somewhat larger. The Redbreast of Europe is quite a small bird, being only about ﬁ ve inches and three quarters from the tip of its bill to the end of its tail-feathers. The principal color of this bird is a yellowish olive-brown. The throat and breast are of a reddish-orange color, and this gives to them their name of Redbreast. 4. They are very common in Europe, and especially so in England. They remain all the year round, and appear to be even more numerous in winter than in summer. This may be partly owing to their deserting the frozen ﬁ elds and snow-covered gardens, where they can no longer obtain food, and resorting to the habitations of man.

5. In the summer-time they feed upon insects and berries. In the winter every rural dwelling is resorted to by these charming little birds, who seldom fail to meet with a cordial welcome from the young folks of Old England. Where they are well treated they soon become very familiar and make themselves quite at home, entering the cottage doors, picking up the crumbs thrown to them, and often roosting contentedly over night in their warm and hospitable kitchens.

6. The poet Thomson thus describes the manner in which little Robin Redbreast enters a cottage to pick up the needed food:

“The Redbreast, sacred to the household gods,

Wisely regardful of the embroiling sky,

In joyless ﬁ elds and thorny thickets leaves

His shivering mates, and pays to trusted man

His annual visit. Half afraid, he ﬁ rst

Against the window beats; then, brisk, alights

On the warm hearth; then, hopping o’er the ﬂ oor, Eyes all the smiling family askance,

And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is;

Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs

Attract his slender feet.”

7. Mr. Yarrell, the English naturalist, tells us that the Redbreast has a sprightly air, a full, dark eye, which, with the sidelong turn of its head which it puts on when thus appealing for human aid, gives an appearance of sagacity and inquiry to its character. This, aided by its trusted confidence, gains it friends every where, and the Robin has accordingly become a familiar domestic pet in almost every country of Europe.

8. The Redbreast has a sweet and plaintive, but not a powerful song, which it keeps up, like our own Bluebird— which in this respect also it most resembles—from early spring to late in autumn. It builds a very pretty and neatly constructed nest of mosses, dried leaves, and dead grasses, lined with ﬁ ne hair and soft feathers. These are placed near the ground, in thick bushes, or in holes in walls, among branches of ivy. English books of natural history are full of interesting narratives of the beautiful conﬁ dence in man shown by the Redbreast in selecting a place for its nest.

9. One pair selected a small cottage adjoining a large blacksmith’s shop, where, throughout the day, a constant noise was made by the forge. They entered through an open window, and built their nest in a child’s covered cart, hanging on a peg over the ﬁ replace. Here the pair built their ﬁ rst nest

early in spring. Although they were attentively watched by crowds of curious spectators, they raised their brood, and, as soon as these could fly, built a second nest on a shelf on the opposite side of the room. Here, too, they raised successfully a second brood; and as soon as these could take care of themselves, the same pair built a third nest in a different part of the room, on a bundle of papers on a shelf, and there, late in June, the pair were seen

feeding their four ﬂ edglings, unmindful of a roomful of featherless bipeds looking curiously on.

10. Another pair of Redbreasts chose for their nest a shelf in a school-room, in which there were some seventy children at school, and directly over the heads of a little class of girls, who never once disturbed them. There they hatched out ﬁ ve eggs. One of their little birds died, and the parents carried out its dead body during school hours. The other four little Robins were fed and reared, day by day, in the presence of the seventy children. Do you wonder that the young folks of England are so fond of their conﬁ ding Robin Redbreast?

11. But we will tell you one more anecdote, still more interesting. In one of the churches of Old England the Bible had been left on the sacred desk lying open, with one part resting on a raised ledge, leaving a hollow place between it and the cushion. There a pair of Robins, before the following Sunday, built their nest and deposited their eggs. The next Sunday, during divine service, there the mother-bird boldly sat, undisturbed either by the music of the choir, the reading of the services, or the responses of the congregation. On the following Sunday there were ﬁ ve little Robins in the nest; and all through the morning and evening services the parent birds were ﬂ ying in and out, bringing food to their little ones, unmindful of the congregation over whose heads they passed and repassed in the discharge of their parental duties.

12. Such is the Robin Redbreast of Europe. We have no bird in this part of America which quite equals it in its conﬁ ding trust and its sociable and affectionate familiarity. Our Robin, so called from some fancied resemblance in its colors, is a very different bird in all respects.

中文阅读

1. 我们的老祖先最初从老英格兰远迁美洲时，怀着对故乡的缱绻和眷恋。他们不想马上割断那些古老而亲昵的联系，所以，每次在美洲看到相似的东西，就用熟悉的名字给它们命名，力求让这些字词保持活力。他们的这种做法造成了很多混淆。同一个词在旧英格兰和新英格兰指的并不是同一种事物。

2. 在欧洲，常春藤跟毒漆树八竿子打不着，而在美洲，毒漆树就叫常春藤。我们新英格兰的山茱萸也是一种漆树，而不是真正的山茱萸。我们所说的忍冬（woodbine）跟英国书籍中所说忍冬指的不是同一种藤蔓。北美的Robin（知更鸟）跟亲爱的Robin Redbreast（知更鸟）并不完全是一回事儿，只要是说英语的地方，说到不韵世事的年轻人，就亲切地用Robin这个词来形容，这个字眼充满对童年的深切怀念。

3. 而Robin Redbreast主要是指我们常见的蓝知更鸟——Bluebird，而不是其他的本地鸟，尽管本地鸟体型更大。欧洲的Redbreast指的是一种体态十分娇小的鸟儿，它从头发梢儿到尾巴尖儿还不到六英寸，还差四分之一英寸。这种鸟儿身体呈黄褐色，喉部和胸部呈橘红色，所以叫做Redbreast——红胸鸟。

4. 这些鸟在欧洲大陆很常见，尤其是在英格兰，整年都可以看到它们的身影，冬天比夏天还更多，多得不计其数。这可能是因为它们在结了冰的田野和积雪覆盖的园子里无法觅食，于是飞到人类的居住地寻求帮助。

5. 盛夏时节，它们以昆虫和浆果为食。到了冬季，每栋农舍都有这些可爱的小鸟儿来拜访。在那里，它们得到老英格兰的年轻人热情的款待，不久，它们就混熟了，生活得无拘无束：它们走进农舍的门，啄起人们丢给它们的面包屑，安心地在他们温暖舒适的厨房里过夜。

6. 诗人汤姆逊是这样描述小知更鸟迈进农舍，寻觅食物的：

“知更鸟，如家神般神圣，

它聪慧地望着乌云密布的天空，

在无趣的田野和厚厚的灌木叶中，

那些同伴簌簌发抖，而它每年都要去拜访

可信的人类。带着些许恐慌，

他先是轻敲窗棂；然后欢快地，飞向

温暖的灶台；在地板上跳跃，

斜睨着微笑的家人，

啄食、惊跳、思索自己在何处

直到，愈加熟稔，桌上的面包渣

才吸引了他细长的双爪。”

7. 英国小说家雷尔先生告诉我们，知更鸟具有活泼可人的神态、完美的黑色眼睛，在寻求人们帮助的时候，就会偏着头，转着眼珠，露出一副睿智、探询的模样。它具有靠得住的信心，处处都能找到朋友。因此，知更鸟成了欧洲每个国家熟知的驯养宠物。

8. 知更鸟的歌声甜美、哀婉，但并不浓烈。它跟我们自己的蓝知更鸟一样，从初春一直唱到深秋，就这点而言，它跟蓝知更鸟最像。它用苔藓、干树叶和枯草筑巢，里面铺上细绒毛和松软的羽毛，把巢筑得十分漂亮雅致。这些巢有的筑在茂密的灌木丛中，离地面不远；有的筑在墙洞里；有的筑在常春藤的枝叶间。英国博物学图书里有很多有趣的故事，记载了知更鸟在选择地方筑巢时所显露的对人类的深信不疑。

9. 一对知更鸟选择了一栋与大型打铁厂毗邻的小农舍，在这里，熔炉从早到晚都噪音不断。它们从农舍开着的窗子飞进去，看到一辆玩具马车挂在火炉上方的钉子上，用东西遮了起来，它们就径直把巢筑在这辆小马车上。尽管处于众目睽睽之下，它们还是产下了一窝小鸟。这些小鸟会飞之后，它们就在房间对面的架子上筑了第二个窝，产下第二窝小鸟儿；等这窝小鸟儿生活能够自理后，它们又在房间里的另一个地方筑了第三个巢。这个巢就筑在一个架子上的一捆纸上，到了六月底，人们发现它们已经在哺育它们的第四窝后代了。尽管那些没有羽毛的两足动物好奇地观看它们，它们丝毫不以为怵。

10. 还有一对知更鸟，选择把巢筑在一间教室的书架上。教室里有七十来个孩子在上课，而它们的巢就在一小群女孩儿的头顶上，不过这些女孩儿从来都没有骚扰过它们。就在那个巢里，它们产了五枚鸟蛋。后来有一只小鸟死了，大鸟就在上课时间把小鸟的尸体叼了出去。它们就当着七十个孩子的面，日复一日地哺育着另外四只小知更鸟。你是不是觉得很诧异，英格兰的孩子们为什么会那么喜欢对人类深信不疑的知更鸟？

11. 我们还要告诉你一个更有趣的故事。在老英格兰的一座教堂里，《圣经》翻开着放在神案上，一边靠在凸起来的壁架上，在壁架和帘子中间撑出来一条缝隙。礼拜日之前，一对知更鸟在那里筑了个巢，把蛋产在里面。礼拜日到了，祷告期间，雌鸟儿就大胆地坐在那里，对着唱诗班的乐曲、圣歌的吟诵、人群的唱和依然泰然自若。第二个礼拜日那天，巢里出现五只小知更鸟。从早祷到晚祷期间，大鸟们一直飞进飞出，给小鸟叼食物。它们就在人群的头顶上飞来飞去，只顾着尽父母的职责，底下的人群它们根本没放在眼里。

12. 这就是欧洲的知更鸟。从这方面来说，我们美国并没有对人类这么深信不疑、跟人类这么友善和睦、亲昵真挚的鸟儿。我们一厢情愿把那些颜色相似的鸟叫做知更鸟，其实它们在所有的方面都大相径庭。