The great families of the pheasants and partridges, in which the blackcock must be included, may be roughly divided into two main divisions so far as regards their appearance and general habits. The first class consists of splendidly coloured and conspicuous12 birds, such as the peacock, the golden pheasant, and the tragopan; and these are, almost without exception, originally jungle-birds of tropical or sub-tropical lands, though a few of them have been acclimatised or domesticated13 in temperate14 countries. They live in regions where they have few natural enemies, and where they are little exposed to the attacks of man. Most of them feed more or less upon fruits and bright-coloured food-stuffs, and they are probably every one of them polygamous in their habits. Thus we can hardly doubt that the male birds, which alone possess the brilliant plumage of their kind, owe their beauty to the selective preference of their mates; and that the taste thus displayed has been aroused by their relation to their specially15 gay and bright natural surroundings. The most lovely species of pheasants are found among the forests of the Himalayas and the Malay Archipelago, with their gorgeous fruits and flowers and their exquisite16 insects. Even in England our naturalised Oriental pheasants still delight in feeding upon blackberries, sloes, haws, and the pretty fruit of the honeysuckle and the holly17; while our dingier18 partridges and grouse subsist19 rather upon heather, grain, and small seeds. Since there must always be originally nearly as many cocks as hens in each brood, it will follow that only the handsomest or most attractive in the polygamous species will succeed in attracting to them a harem; and as beauty and strength usually go hand in hand, they will also be the conquerors20 in those battles which are universal with all polygamists in the animal world. Thus we account for the striking and conspicuous difference between the peacock and the peahen, or between the two sexes in the pheasant, the turkey, and the domestic fowl21.
On the other hand, the second class consists of those birds which are exposed to the hostility22 of many wild animals, and more especially of man. These kinds, typified by the red grouse, partridges, quails23, and guinea-fowls, are generally dingy24 in hue25, with a tendency to pepper-and-salt in their plumage; and they usually display very little difference between the sexes, both cocks and hens being coloured and feathered much alike. In short, they are protectively designed, while the first class are attractive. Their plumage resembles as nearly as possible the ground on which they sit or the covert26 in which they skulk27. They are thus enabled to escape the notice of their natural enemies, the birds of prey28, from whose ravages29 they suffer far more in a state of nature than from any other cause. We may take the ptarmigans as the most typical example of this class of birds; for in summer their zigzagged30 black-and-brown attire31 harmonises admirably with the patches of faded heath and soil upon the mountain-side, as every sportsman well knows; while in the winter their pure white plumage can scarcely be distinguished32 from the snow in which they lie huddled33 and crouching34 during the colder months. Even in the brilliant species, Mr. Darwin and Mr. Wallace have pointed35 out that the ornamental36 colours and crest37 are never handed down to female descendants when the habits of nesting are such that the mothers would be exposed to danger by their conspicuousness38 during incubation. Speaking broadly, only those female birds which build in hollow trees or make covered nests have bright hues39 at all equal to those of the males. A female bird nesting in the open would be cut off if it showed any tendency to reproduce the brilliant colouring of its male relations.
Now the blackcock occupies to some extent an intermediate position between these two types of pheasant life, though it inclines on the whole to that first described. It is a polygamous bird, and it differs most conspicuously40 in plumage from its consort41, the grey-hen, as may be seen from the very names by which they are each familiarly known. Yet, though the blackcock is handsome enough and shows evident marks of selective preference on the part of his ancestral hens, this preference has not exerted itself largely in the direction of bright colour, and that for two reasons. In the first place the blackcock does not feed upon brilliant foodstuffs42, but upon small bog-berries, hard seeds, and young shoots of heather, and it is probable that an ?sthetic taste for pure and dazzling hues is almost confined to those creatures which, like butterflies, hummingbirds43, and parrots, seek their livelihood44 amongst beautiful fruits or flowers. In the second place, red, yellow, or orange ornaments45 would render the blackcock too conspicuous a mark for the hawk46, the falcon47, or the weapons of man; for we must remember that only those blackcocks survive from year to year and hand down their peculiarities48 to descendants which succeed in evading49 the talons50 of birds of prey or the small-shot of sportsmen. Feeding as they do on the open, they are not protected, like jungle-birds, by the shade of trees. Thus any bird which showed any marked tendency to develop brighter or more conspicuous plumage would almost infallibly fall a victim to one or other of his many foes51; and however much his beauty might possibly charm his mates (supposing them for the moment to possess a taste for colour), he would have no chance of transmitting it to a future generation. Accordingly, the decoration of the blackcock is confined to glossy52 plumage and a few ornamental tail-feathers. The grey-hen herself still retains the dull and imitative colouring of the grouse race generally; and as for the cocks, even if a fair percentage of them is annually53 cut off through their comparative conspicuousness as marks, their loss is less felt than it would be in a monogamous community. Every spring the blackcock hold a sort of assembly or court of love, at which the pairing for the year takes place. The cocks resort to certain open and recognised spots, and there invite the grey-hens by their calls, a little duelling going on meanwhile. During these meetings they show off their beauty with great emulation54, after the fashion with which we are all familiar in the case of the peacock; and when they have gained the approbation55 of their mates and maimed or driven away their rivals, they retire with their respective families. Unfortunately, like most polygamists, they make bad fathers, leaving the care of their young almost entirely56 to the hens. According to the veracious57 account of Artemus Ward58, the great Brigham Young himself pathetically descanted upon the difficulty of extending his parental59 affections to 131 children. The imperious blackcock seems to labour under the same sentimental60 disadvantage.
点击收听单词发音
1 grouse | |
n.松鸡;v.牢骚,诉苦 | |
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2 epidemic | |
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的 | |
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3 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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4 implements | |
n.工具( implement的名词复数 );家具;手段;[法律]履行(契约等)v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 );执行;贯彻;使生效 | |
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5 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
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6 wary | |
adj.谨慎的,机警的,小心的 | |
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7 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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8 perfidious | |
adj.不忠的,背信弃义的 | |
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9 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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10 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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11 marsh | |
n.沼泽,湿地 | |
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12 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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13 domesticated | |
adj.喜欢家庭生活的;(指动物)被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 temperate | |
adj.温和的,温带的,自我克制的,不过分的 | |
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15 specially | |
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地 | |
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16 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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17 holly | |
n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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18 dingier | |
adj.暗淡的,乏味的( dingy的比较级 );肮脏的 | |
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19 subsist | |
vi.生存,存在,供养 | |
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20 conquerors | |
征服者,占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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21 fowl | |
n.家禽,鸡,禽肉 | |
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22 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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23 quails | |
鹌鹑( quail的名词复数 ); 鹌鹑肉 | |
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24 dingy | |
adj.昏暗的,肮脏的 | |
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25 hue | |
n.色度;色调;样子 | |
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26 covert | |
adj.隐藏的;暗地里的 | |
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27 skulk | |
v.藏匿;潜行 | |
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28 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
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29 ravages | |
劫掠后的残迹,破坏的结果,毁坏后的残迹 | |
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30 zigzagged | |
adj.呈之字形移动的v.弯弯曲曲地走路,曲折地前进( zigzag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 attire | |
v.穿衣,装扮[同]array;n.衣着;盛装 | |
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32 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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33 huddled | |
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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34 crouching | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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35 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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36 ornamental | |
adj.装饰的;作装饰用的;n.装饰品;观赏植物 | |
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37 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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38 conspicuousness | |
显著,卓越,突出; 显著性 | |
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39 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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40 conspicuously | |
ad.明显地,惹人注目地 | |
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41 consort | |
v.相伴;结交 | |
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42 foodstuffs | |
食物,食品( foodstuff的名词复数 ) | |
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43 hummingbirds | |
n.蜂鸟( hummingbird的名词复数 ) | |
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44 livelihood | |
n.生计,谋生之道 | |
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45 ornaments | |
n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 );点缀;装饰品;首饰v.装饰,点缀,美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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46 hawk | |
n.鹰,骗子;鹰派成员 | |
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47 falcon | |
n.隼,猎鹰 | |
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48 peculiarities | |
n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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49 evading | |
逃避( evade的现在分词 ); 避开; 回避; 想不出 | |
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50 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 | |
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51 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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52 glossy | |
adj.平滑的;有光泽的 | |
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53 annually | |
adv.一年一次,每年 | |
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54 emulation | |
n.竞争;仿效 | |
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55 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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56 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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57 veracious | |
adj.诚实可靠的 | |
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58 ward | |
n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开 | |
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59 parental | |
adj.父母的;父的;母的 | |
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60 sentimental | |
adj.多愁善感的,感伤的 | |
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