春夏的花丛中,大家常常可以看到一种像蜜蜂一样采蜜的袖珍鸟 - 蜂鸟。顾名思义,蜂鸟形如蜜蜂,身长约3-5英寸,体重约1-3克,比蜜蜂略大,是世界上最小的鸟。在英文中被称为“嗡嗡鸟”(Humming bird) - 因其拍打翅膀的嗡嗡声(humming)而得名。
蜂鸟是北美特有的鸟,它们的体型很小,但飞行能力超强,翅膀可每秒种可拍15-80 次(15-80 Hz),所以能悬停在空中,可以垂直升降,也是唯一可以向后飞的鸟,飞行的速度高达90-100公里/小时。正是因为这样,它们的能量代谢也极旺盛,心跳能达到每分钟500下,每天消耗的食品超过自身的体重,为了获取巨量的食物,它们每天必须采食数百朵花。蜂鸟还有惊人的导航能力和记忆力,加拿大的蜂鸟每年冬天都要从寒冷的落基山脉飞行数千公里抵达温暖的墨西哥地区越冬,等到了来年春天,它们还要再次千里迢迢地返回落基山繁育后代。
此外,在所有动物当中,蜂鸟的体态最妍美,色彩最艳丽。十八世纪法国博物学家乔治 .路易 .勒克莱尔 .布丰伯爵在他的著作《自然历史 .蜂鸟》 中这样形容蜂鸟:“… 蜂鸟是造物主的杰作,她把其它鸟类所有的优点统统加到了蜂鸟的身上:轻盈、迅疾、敏捷、优雅、华丽的羽毛,这小小的宠儿应有尽有”,因而他把蜂鸟称作“袖珍巨宝”(maxime miranda in minimis)。接着,布丰伯爵兴犹未尽,笔下进一步诗化蜂鸟:“蜂鸟从不让它的羽毛沾染尘埃,它以天空为家,从花丛飞向花丛,像鲜花一样新鲜,也像鲜花一样绚丽。蜂鸟靠花蜜为生,只生活在四季鲜花盛开的地带。”
布丰伯爵的神来之笔,又给美丽的蜂鸟添上了诗情画意。
(附:乔治 .路易 .勒克莱尔 .布丰的原作)
The Humming Bird
By George Louis Leclerc Buffon
Of all animated beings this is the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stone and metals polished by our arts are not comparable to this jewel of Nature. She has placed it least in size of the order of birds, “maxime miranda in minimis.” Her masterpiece is this little humming-bird, and upon it she has heaped all the gifts which the other birds may only share. Lightness, rapidity, nimbleness, grace, and rich apparel all belong to this little favorite. The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz gleam upon its dress. It never soils them with the dust of earth, and in its aerial life scarcely touches the turf an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness as well as their brightness. It lives jupon their nectar, and dwells only I the climates where they perennially bloom.
From Natural History
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