Chapter IV. The Birds and Their Families.

The next step to be taken was the study of the birds. Everywhere could be seen father and mother birds busy making their house for the babes, which were soon to come to live with them.

Great fun it was to hunt for nests and count the number each one discovered. First, right in Bobby’s yard was a young horse chestnut¹ tree, and here in this tree Mr. and Mrs. Thrush had already built their nest, or house, and were even now waiting for the first egg to come.

Again the children were told that Mrs. Bird was more active and more intelligent than Mrs. Frog or Toad²; that altogether she was a higher creature than either the flower, the fish or the frog; that all father birds and all father creatures on up the scale of development use greater care to fertilize³ the egg than either Mr. Buttercup, Mr. Fish, Mr. Toad or Mr. Frog. For, instead of fertilizing⁴ it in the water, or with the help of the insects or wind, the egg of the higher 30creatures is fertilized⁵ while still in the mother’s body.

Just like the flowers, Mrs. Bird has an ovary, where the little seeds or eggs are kept. This ovary is attached to a tiny tube, and this tube has no separate opening directly out of the body, but runs into the intestine⁶ very close to the outer opening of the body, where the intestines⁷ throw off the waste food.

Now, these little eggs have been within the Mother Bird’s body always, ever since she herself came out of the egg, and they have been growing slowly all the time until a time comes when, like the stigma⁸ of the pistil (which at a certain time is ripe for fertilization and becomes moist and sticky), they, too, are ripe for fertilization.

That this time has arrived is shown by many outward signs—such as beautiful plumage and charming songs. Especially in the male bird does this show itself. His whole nature seems bubbling over with the desire to mate and the knowledge that at last he, too, has developed. For though there are no eggs within his body, there is something else there just as important to the creating of new little birds, and he feels the time has come when this fertilizing substance is ready to do its work. His color becomes bright, even brilliant, and his voice becomes 31enchanting. Thus he tells the world of this glorious happiness.

This period is called the mating season—the time when both father and mother birds awaken⁹ to the desire of building their nest and creating offspring.

The egg has become as developed as Mrs. Bird alone can make it. For, like the flower seed, the fish and frog egg, it needs the fertilizing substance from the father bird to complete its development.

As has been said before, the father bird knows that there are so few eggs that he and Mrs. Bird cannot afford to lose even one, so great, very great care must be taken to fertilize every egg.

There is an instinct in all creatures implanted there for millions of years to preserve or perpetuate¹⁰ their species, and this instinct shows itself when the father creature, like the father bird, places himself in such a position that the fertilizing fluid can get into the mother’s body as near as possible to the undeveloped eggs. And as every atom of this substance is alive, it moves on, on and on, until it reaches the egg, where it mingles¹¹ with it and the two different substances have become one. Now after the two substances have mingled¹², the egg passes down the little tube on through the opening out of the body into the nest. While it is passing 32through the tube, however, it accumulates a food substance called the “white” of the egg. This is not the living part of the egg, but simply food just as the frog eggs were incased in a soft substance, which served as food for the tadpole—so in the yolk¹³, is the new baby bird, incased within the “white” of the egg.

At the bottom of the tube, through which the egg passes to its opening, is a fluid which also incases the whole egg and hardens into a shell, and it is then ready to go into the little nest.

After the fertilization takes place the egg is soon ready to be laid, and so the nest must be ready, soft and cozy¹⁴. And this is what Mrs. Thrush was now waiting for in the nest she and Mr. Thrush had built in the horse chestnut tree.

But even this was not all. For, though the eggs were here, the new little birds were not yet here. And again it was shown that while the frogs and toads¹⁵ left the eggs in the water to care for themselves, Mr. and Mrs. Bird do not and can not do this. The eggs must be kept warm almost constantly, and so Mrs. Bird gathers them close to her warm body and sits on them day after day, until they are ready to burst the shell open, and come out—the real new birds.

1 chestnut   

n.栗树，栗子

参考例句：

• We have a chestnut tree in the bottom of our garden.我们的花园尽头有一棵栗树。
• In summer we had tea outdoors,under the chestnut tree.夏天我们在室外栗树下喝茶。

2 toad   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆

参考例句：

• Both the toad and frog are amphibian.蟾蜍和青蛙都是两栖动物。
• Many kinds of toad hibernate in winter.许多种蟾蜍在冬天都会冬眠。

3 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

4 fertilizing   

v.施肥( fertilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Sometimes the preliminary step must be taken of reducing weed population before fertilizing. 有时候，在施肥之前，必须采取减少杂草密度的预备性步骤。 来自辞典例句
• The self fertilizing garden can also be planted in raised beds. 自我施肥的菜园也可以在苗圃床中种植。 来自互联网

5 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

6 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

7 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句

8 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

9 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

10 perpetuate   

v.使永存，使永记不忘

参考例句：

• This monument was built to perpetuate the memory of the national hero.这个纪念碑建造的意义在于纪念民族英雄永垂不朽。
• We must perpetuate the system.我们必须将此制度永久保持。

11 mingles   

混合，混入( mingle的第三人称单数 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• He rarely mingles with persons of his own rank in society. 他几乎不与和他身份相同的人交往。
• The distant rumbling of the guns mingles with our marching song. 枪的深邃长声与我们行进歌混合。

12 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

13 yolk   

n.蛋黄，卵黄

参考例句：

• This dish would be more delicious with some yolk powder.加点蛋黄粉，这道菜就会更好吃。
• Egg yolk serves as the emulsifying agent in salad dressing.在色拉调味时，蛋黄能作为乳化剂。

14 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

15 toads   

n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All toads blink when they swallow. 所有的癞蛤蟆吞食东西时都会眨眼皮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Toads have shorter legs and are generally more clumsy than frogs. 蟾蜍比青蛙脚短，一般说来没有青蛙灵活。 来自辞典例句