The yaffle, as we call our red-headed friend in these parts, is one of the largest and handsomest of our woodland wild birds. About a foot in length, by the actual measurement, “from the end of his beak13 to the tip of his tail,” he hardly impresses one at first sight with a sense of his full size, because of his extreme concinnity and neatness of plumage. A practical bird, he is built rather for use than for vain gaudy14 display; for, though his colour is fine, and evidently produced by many ages of ?sthetic selection, he yet sedulously15 avoids all crests16 and top-knots, all bunches and bundles of decorative17 feathers protruding18 from his body, which would interfere19 with his solid and business-like pursuit of wood-burrowing insects. How well-built and how cunningly evolved he is, after all, for his special purpose! His feet are so divided into opposite pairs of toes—one couple pointing forward and the other backward—that he can easily climb even the smooth-barked beech-tree, by digging his sharp claws into any chance inequality in its level surface. He alights head upward, and moves on a perpendicular20 plane as surely and mysteriously as a lizard21. Nothing seems to puzzle him; the straightest trunk becomes as a drawing-room floor to his clinging talons22. But in his climbing he is also aided not a little by his stiff and starched23 tail, whose feathers are so curiously24 rigid25, like a porcupine’s quills26, that they enable him to hold on and support himself behind with automatic security. Long ancestral habit has made it in him “a property of easiness.” A practised acrobat27 from the egg, he thinks nothing of such antics; and when he wishes to descend28 he just lets himself drop a little, like a sailor on a rope, sliding down head uppermost, and stopping himself when he wishes by means of his claws and tail, as the sailor stops himself by tightening29 his bent30 fingers and clinging legs round the cable he is descending31.
But, best of all, I love to watch him tapping after insects. How wise he looks then! how intent! how philosophic! When he suspects a grub, he hammers awhile at the bark; after which he holds his head most quaintly32 on one side with a quiet gravity that always reminds me of John Stuart Mill listening, all alert, to an opponent’s argument, and ready to pounce33 upon him. If a grub stirs responsive to the tap, tap, tap of his inquiring bill—if his delicate ear detects a cavity, as a doctor detects a weak spot in a lung with his prying34 stethoscope—in a second our bird has drilled a hole with that powerful augur35, his wedge-shaped beak, has darted36 out his long and extensile tongue, and has extracted the insect by means of its barbed and bristled37 tip. The whole of this mechanism38, indeed, is one of the most beautiful examples I know of structures begotten39 by long functional40 use, and perfected by the action of natural selection. It is not only that the bill is a most admirable and efficient boring instrument; it is not only that the tongue is capable of rapid and lightning-like protrusion41; but further still, the barbs42 at its ends are all directed backward, like the points of a harpoon43, while the very same muscles which produce the instantaneous forward movement of the tongue press at the same time automatically on two large salivary44 glands45, which pour forth46 in response a thick and sticky secretion47, not unlike bird-lime. The insect, once spotted48, has thus no chance of escape; he is caught and devoured49 before he can say “Jack Robinson” in his own dialect.
But though the green woodpecker is so exceedingly practical and sensible a bird, built all for use and very little for show, he is not wholly devoid50 of those external adornments which are the result of generations of ?sthetic preference. Dominant52 types always show these peculiarities53. His ground-tone of green, indeed, serves, no doubt, a mainly protective function, by enabling him to escape notice among the leaves of the woodland; and even on a tree-trunk he readily assimilates with the tone of the background; but his brilliant crimson cap is a genuine piece of decorative adornment51, which owes its origin, no doubt, to the selective preferences of his female ancestors for endless generations.

点击
收听单词发音

1
isolated
![]() |
|
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
behold
![]() |
|
v.看,注视,看到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
lament
![]() |
|
n.悲叹,悔恨,恸哭;v.哀悼,悔恨,悲叹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
naturalist
![]() |
|
n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
wont
![]() |
|
adj.习惯于;v.习惯;n.习惯 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
weird
![]() |
|
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
passionate
![]() |
|
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
crimson
![]() |
|
n./adj.深(绯)红色(的);vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
philosophic
![]() |
|
adj.哲学的,贤明的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
inquiry
![]() |
|
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
stunted
![]() |
|
adj.矮小的;发育迟缓的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
clump
![]() |
|
n.树丛,草丛;vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
beak
![]() |
|
n.鸟嘴,茶壶嘴,钩形鼻 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
gaudy
![]() |
|
adj.华而不实的;俗丽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
sedulously
![]() |
|
ad.孜孜不倦地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
crests
![]() |
|
v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的第三人称单数 );到达洪峰,达到顶点 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
decorative
![]() |
|
adj.装饰的,可作装饰的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
protruding
![]() |
|
v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的现在分词 );凸 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
interfere
![]() |
|
v.(in)干涉,干预;(with)妨碍,打扰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
perpendicular
![]() |
|
adj.垂直的,直立的;n.垂直线,垂直的位置 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
lizard
![]() |
|
n.蜥蜴,壁虎 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
talons
![]() |
|
n.(尤指猛禽的)爪( talon的名词复数 );(如爪般的)手指;爪状物;锁簧尖状突出部 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
starched
![]() |
|
adj.浆硬的,硬挺的,拘泥刻板的v.把(衣服、床单等)浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
curiously
![]() |
|
adv.有求知欲地;好问地;奇特地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
rigid
![]() |
|
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
quills
![]() |
|
n.(刺猬或豪猪的)刺( quill的名词复数 );羽毛管;翮;纡管 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
acrobat
![]() |
|
n.特技演员,杂技演员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
descend
![]() |
|
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
tightening
![]() |
|
上紧,固定,紧密 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
bent
![]() |
|
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
descending
![]() |
|
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
quaintly
![]() |
|
adv.古怪离奇地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
pounce
![]() |
|
n.猛扑;v.猛扑,突然袭击,欣然同意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34
prying
![]() |
|
adj.爱打听的v.打听,刺探(他人的私事)( pry的现在分词 );撬开 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35
augur
![]() |
|
n.占卦师;v.占卦 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36
darted
![]() |
|
v.投掷,投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 );向前冲,飞奔 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37
bristled
![]() |
|
adj. 直立的,多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38
mechanism
![]() |
|
n.机械装置;机构,结构 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39
begotten
![]() |
|
v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 );产生,引起 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40
functional
![]() |
|
adj.为实用而设计的,具备功能的,起作用的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41
protrusion
![]() |
|
n.伸出,突出 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42
barbs
![]() |
|
n.(箭头、鱼钩等的)倒钩( barb的名词复数 );带刺的话;毕露的锋芒;钩状毛 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43
harpoon
![]() |
|
n.鱼叉;vt.用鱼叉叉,用鱼叉捕获 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44
salivary
![]() |
|
adj. 唾液的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45
glands
![]() |
|
n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46
forth
![]() |
|
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47
secretion
![]() |
|
n.分泌 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48
spotted
![]() |
|
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49
devoured
![]() |
|
吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50
devoid
![]() |
|
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51
adornment
![]() |
|
n.装饰;装饰品 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52
dominant
![]() |
|
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53
peculiarities
![]() |
|
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |