For my part, my nearest approach to a strange bedfellow is the little gray rabbit that has taken up her abode18 under my study floor. As she spends the day here and is out larking19 at night, she is not much of a bedfellow after all. It is probable that I disturb her slumbers21 more than she does mine. I think she is some support to me under there-a silent wild-eyed witness and backer; a type of the gentle and harmless in savage23 nature. She has no sagacity to give me or lend me, but that soft, nimble foot of hers, and that touch as of cotton wherever she goes, are worthy24 of emulation25. I think I can feel her good-will through the floor, and I hope she can mine. When I have a happy thought I imagine her ears twitch27, especially when I think of the sweet apple I will place by her doorway28 at night. I wonder if that fox chanced to catch a glimpse of her the other night when he stealthily leaped over the fence near by and walked along between the study and the house? How clearly one could read that it was not a little dog that had passed there. There was something furtive29 in the track; it shied off away from the house and around it, as if eying it suspiciously; and then it had the caution and deliberation of the fox—bold, bold, but not too bold; wariness30 was in every footprint. If it had been a little dog that had chanced to wander that way, when he crossed my path he would have followed it up to the barn and have gone smelling around for a bone; but this sharp, cautious track held straight across all others, keeping five or six rods from the house, up the hill, across the highway towards a neighboring farmstead, with its nose in the air and its eye and ear alert, so to speak.
A winter neighbor of mine in whom I am interested, and who perhaps lends me his support after his kind, is a little red owl11, whose retreat is in the heart of an old apple-tree just over the fence. Where he keeps himself in spring and summer I do not know, but late every fall, and at intervals31 all winter, his hiding-place is discovered by the jays and nut-hatches, and proclaimed from the tree-tops for the space of half an hour or so, with all the powers of voice they can command. Four times during one winter they called me out to behold32 this little ogre feigning33 sleep in his den3, sometimes in one apple-tree, sometimes in another. Whenever I heard their cries, I knew my neighbor was being berated35. The birds would take turns at looking in upon him and uttering their alarm-notes. Every jay within hearing would come to the spot and at once approach the hole in the trunk or limb, and with a kind of breathless eagerness and excitement take a peep at the owl, and then join the outcry. When I approached they would hastily take a final look and then withdraw and regard my movements intently. After accustoming36 my eye to the faint light of the cavity for a few moments, I could usually make out the owl at the bottom feigning sleep. Feigning, I say, because this is what he really did, as I first discovered one day when I cut into his retreat with the axe37. The loud blows and the falling chips did not disturb him at all. When I reached in a stick and pulled him over on his side, leaving one of his wings spread out, he made no attempt to recover himself, but lay among the chips and fragments of decayed wood, like a part of themselves. Indeed, it took a sharp eye to distinguish him. Nor till I had pulled him forth38 by one wing, rather rudely, did he abandon his trick of simulated sleep or death. Then, like a detected pickpocket39, he was suddenly transformed into another creature. His eyes flew wide open, his talons40 clutched my finger, his ears were depressed41, and every motion and look said, "Hands off, at your peril42." Finding this game did not work, he soon began to "play 'possum" again. I put a cover over my study wood-box and kept him captive for a week. Look in upon him any time, night or day, and he was apparently43 wrapped in the profoundest slumber22; but the live mice which I put into his box from time to time found his sleep was easily broken; there would be a sudden rustle44 in the box, a faint squeak45, and then silence. After a week of captivity46 I gave him his freedom in the full sunshine: no trouble for him to see which way and where to go.
Just at dusk in the winter nights, I often hear his soft bur-r-r-r, very pleasing and bell-like. What a furtive, woody sound it is in the winter stillness, so unlike the harsh scream of the hawk47. But all the ways of the owl are ways of softness and duskiness. His wings are shod with silence, his plumage is edged with down.
Another owl neighbor of mine, with whom I pass the time of day more frequently than with the last, lives farther away. I pass his castle every night on my way to the post-office, and in winter, if the hour is late enough, am pretty sure to see him standing48 in his doorway, surveying the passers-by and the landscape through narrow slits49 in his eyes. For four successive winters now have I observed him. As the twilight51 begins to deepen he rises out of his cavity in the apple-tree, scarcely faster than the moon rises from behind the hill, and sits in the opening, completely framed by its outlines of gray bark and dead wood, and by his protective coloring virtually invisible to every eye that does not know he is there. Probably my own is the only eye that has ever penetrated52 his secret, and mine never would have done so had I not chanced on one occasion to see him leave his retreat and make a raid upon a shrike that was impaling53 a shrew-mouse upon a thorn in a neighboring tree and which I was watching. Failing to get the mouse, the owl returned swiftly to his cavity, and ever since, while going that way, I have been on the lookout54 for him. Dozens of teams and foot-passengers pass him late in the day, but he regards them not, nor they him. When I come alone and pause to salute56 him, he opens his eyes a little wider, and, appearing to recognize me, quickly shrinks and fades into the background of his door in a very weird57 and curious manner. When he is not at his outlook, or when he is, it requires the best powers of the eye to decide the point, as the empty cavity itself is almost an exact image of him. If the whole thing had been carefully studied it could not have answered its purpose better. The owl stands quite perpendicular58, presenting a front of light mottled gray; the eyes are closed to a mere59 slit50, the ear-feathers depressed, the beak12 buried in the plumage, and the whole attitude is one of silent, motionless waiting and observation. If a mouse should be seen crossing the highway, or scudding60 over any exposed part of the snowy surface in the twilight, the owl would doubtless swoop61 down upon it. I think the owl has learned to distinguish me from the rest of the passers-by; at least, when I stop before him, and he sees himself observed, he backs down into his den, as I have said, in a very amusing manner. Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches, and chickadees—birds that pass the night in cavities of trees—ever run into the clutches of the dozing62 owl, I should be glad to know. My impression is, however, that they seek out smaller cavities. An old willow63 by the roadside blew down one summer, and a decayed branch broke open, revealing a brood of half-fledged owls10, and many feathers and quills65 of bluebirds, orioles, and other songsters, showing plainly enough why all birds fear and berate34 the owl.
The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly increasing among us, and that must add greatly to the food supply of the owls and other birds of prey66, seek to baffle their enemies by roosting in the densest67 evergreens69 they can find, in the arbor-vit?, and in hemlock70 hedges. Soft-winged as the owl is, he cannot steal in upon such a retreat without giving them warning.
These sparrows are becoming about the most noticeable of my winter neighbors, and a troop of them every morning watch me put out the hens' feed, and soon claim their share. I rather encouraged them in their neighborliness, till one day I discovered the snow under a favorite plum-tree where they most frequently perched covered with the scales of the fruit-buds. On investigating I found that the tree had been nearly stripped of its buds—a very unneighborly act on the part of the sparrows, considering, too, all the cracked corn I had scattered72 for them. So I at once served notice on them that our good understanding was at an end. And a hint is as good as a kick with this bird. The stone I hurled73 among them, and the one with which I followed them up, may have been taken as a kick; but they were only a hint of the shot-gun that stood ready in the corner. The sparrows left in high dungeon74, and were not back again in some days, and were then very shy. No doubt the time is near at hand when we shall have to wage serious war upon these sparrows, as they long have had to do on the continent of Europe. And yet it will be hard to kill the little wretches75, the only Old World bird we have. When I take down my gun to shoot them I shall probably remember that the Psalmist said, "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top," and maybe the recollection will cause me to stay my hand. The sparrows have the Old World hardiness76 and prolificness77; they are wise and tenacious79 of life, and we shall find it by and by no small matter to keep them in check. Our native birds are much different, less prolific78, less shrewd, less aggressive and persistent80, less quick-witted and able to read the note of danger or hostility—in short, less sophisticated. Most of our birds are yet essentially81 wild, that is, little changed by civilization. In winter, especially, they sweep by me and around me in flocks,—the Canada sparrow, the snow-bunting, the shore-lark20, the pine grosbeak, the red-poll, the cedar-bird,—feeding upon frozen apples in the orchard, upon cedar-berries, upon maple-buds, and the berries of the mountain ash, and the celtis, and upon the seeds of the weeds that rise above the snow in the field, or upon the hay-seed dropped where the cattle have been foddered in the barn-yard or about the distant stack; but yet taking no heed82 of man, in no way changing their habits so as to take advantage of his presence in nature. The pine grosbeak will come in numbers upon your porch, to get the black drupes of the honeysuckle or the woodbine, or within reach of your windows to get the berries of the mountain-ash, but they know you not; they look at you as innocently and unconcernedly as at a bear or moose in their native north, and your house is no more to them than a ledge64 of rocks.
The only ones of my winter neighbors that actually rap at my door are the nut-hatches and woodpeckers, and these do not know that it is my door. My retreat is covered with the bark of young chestnut-trees, and the birds, I suspect, mistake it for a huge stump83 that ought to hold fat grubs (there is not even a bookworm inside of it), and their loud rapping often makes me think I have a caller indeed. I place fragments of hickory-nuts in the interstices of the bark, and thus attract the nut-hatches; a bone upon my window-sill attracts both nut-hatches and the downy woodpecker. They peep in curiously84 through the window upon me, pecking away at my bone, too often a very poor one. A bone nailed to a tree a few feet in front of the window attracts crows as well as lesser85 birds. Even the slate-colored snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles86 it occasionally.
The bird that seems to consider he has the best right to the bone both upon the tree and upon the sill is the downy woodpecker, my favorite neighbor among the winter birds, to whom I will mainly devote the remainder of this chapter. His retreat is but a few paces from my own, in the decayed limb of an apple-tree which he excavated87 several autumns ago. I say "he" because the red plume89 on the top of his head proclaims the sex. It seems not to be generally known to our writers upon ornithology90 that certain of our woodpeckers—probably all the winter residents—each fall excavate88 a limb or the trunk of a tree in which to pass the winter, and that the cavity is abandoned in the spring, probably for a new one in which nidification takes place. So far as I have observed, these cavities are drilled out only by the males. Where the females take up their quarters I am not so well informed, though I suspect that they use the abandoned holes of the males of the previous year.
The particular woodpecker to which I refer drilled his first hole in my apple-tree one fall four or five years ago. This he occupied till the following spring when he abandoned it. The next fall he began a hole in an adjoining limb, later than before, and when it was about half completed a female took possession of his old quarters. I am sorry to say that this seemed to enrage91 the male, very much, and he persecuted92 the poor bird whenever she appeared upon the scene. He would fly at her spitefully and drive her off. One chilly93 November morning, as I passed under the tree, I heard the hammer of the little architect in his cavity, and at the same time saw the persecuted female sitting at the entrance of the other hole as if she would fain come out. She was actually shivering, probably from both fear and cold. I understood the situation at a glance; the bird was afraid to come forth and brave the anger of the male. Not till I had rapped smartly upon the limb with my stick did she come out and attempt to escape; but she had not gone ten feet from the tree before the male was in hot pursuit, and in a few moments had driven her back to the same tree, where she tried to avoid him among the branches. A few days after, he rid himself of his unwelcome neighbor in the following ingenious manner: he fairly scuttled94 the other cavity; he drilled a hole into the bottom of it that let in the light and the cold, and I saw the female there no more. I did not see him in the act of rendering95 this tenement96 uninhabitable; but one morning, behold it was punctured97 at the bottom, and the circumstances all seemed to point to him as the author of it. There is probably no gallantry among the birds except at the mating season. I have frequently seen the male woodpecker drive the female away from the bone upon the tree. When she hopped98 around to the other end and timidly nibbled99 it, he would presently dart100 spitefully at her. She would then take up her position in his rear and wait till he had finished his meal. The position of the female among the birds is very much the same as that of woman among savage tribes. Most of the drudgery101 of life falls upon her, and the leavings of the males are often her lot.
My bird is a genuine little savage, doubtless, but I value him as a neighbor. It is a satisfaction during the cold or stormy winter nights to know he is warm and cosy102 there in his retreat. When the day is bad and unfit to be abroad in; he is there too. When I wish to know if he is at home, I go and rap upon his tree, and, if he is not too lazy or indifferent, after some delay he shows his head in his round doorway about ten feet above, and looks down inquiringly upon me—sometimes latterly I think half resentfully, as much as to say, "I would thank you not to disturb me so often." After sundown, he will not put his head out any more when I call, but as I step away I can get a glimpse of him inside looking cold and reserved. He is a late riser, especially if it is a cold or disagreeable morning, in this respect being like the fowls; it is sometimes near nine o'clock before I see him leave his tree. On the other hand, he comes home early, being in if the day is unpleasant by four P. M. He lives all alone; in this respect I do not commend his example. Where his mate is I should like to know.
I have discovered several other woodpeckers in adjoining orchards103, each of which has a like home and leads a like solitary104 life. One of them has excavated a dry limb within easy reach of my hand, doing the work also in September. But the choice of tree was not a good one; the limb was too much decayed, and the workman had made the cavity too large; a chip had come out, making a hole in the outer wall. Then he went a few inches down the limb and began again, and excavated a large, commodious105 chamber106, but had again come too near the surface; scarcely more than the bark protected him in one place, and the limb was very much weakened. Then he made another attempt still farther down the limb, and drilled in an inch or two, but seemed to change his mind; the work stopped, and I concluded the bird had wisely abandoned the tree. Passing there one cold, rainy November day, I thrust in my two fingers and was surprised to feel something soft and warm: as I drew away my hand the bird came out, apparently no more surprised than I was. It had decided107, then, to make its home in the old limb; a decision it had occasion to regret, for not long after, on a stormy night, the branch gave way and fell to the ground.
and down will come baby, cradle and all."
Such a cavity makes a snug109, warm home, and when the entrance is on the under side if the limb, as is usual, the wind and snow cannot reach the occupant. Late in December, while crossing a high, wooded mountain, lured110 by the music of fox-hounds, I discovered fresh yellow chips strewing111 the new-fallen snow, and at once thought of my woodpeckers. On looking around I saw where one had been at work excavating112 a lodge113 in a small yellow birch. The orifice was about fifteen feet from the ground, and appeared as round as if struck with a compass. It was on the east side of the tree, so as to avoid the prevailing114 west and northeast winds. As it was nearly two inches in diameter, it could not have been the work of the downy, but must have been that of the hairy, or else the yellow-bellied woodpecker. His home had probably been wrecked115 by some violent wind, and he was thus providing himself another. In digging out these retreats the woodpeckers prefer a dry, brittle116, trunk, not too soft. They go in horizontally to the centre and then turn downward, enlarging the tunnel as they go, till when finished it is the shape of a long, deep pear.
Another trait our woodpeckers have that endears them to me, and that has never been pointedly117 noticed by our ornithologists, is their habit of drumming in the spring. They are songless birds, and yet all are musicians; they make the dry limbs eloquent118 of the coming change. Did you think that loud, sonorous119 hammering which proceeded from the orchard or from the near woods on that still March or April morning was only some bird getting its breakfast? It is downy, but he is not rapping at the door of a grub; he is rapping at the door of spring, and the dry limb thrills beneath the ardor120 of his blows. Or, later in the season, in the dense68 forest or by some remote mountain lake, does that measured rhythmic121 beat that breaks upon the silence, first three strokes following each other rapidly, succeeded by two louder ones with longer intervals between them, and that has an effect upon the alert ear as if the solitude itself had at last found a voice—does that suggest anything less than a deliberate musical performance? In fact, our woodpeckers are just as characteristically drummers as is the ruffed grouse122, and they have their particular limbs and stubs to which they resort for that purpose. Their need of expression is apparently just as great as that of the song-birds, and it is not surprising that they should have found out that there is music in a dry, seasoned limb which can be evoked123 beneath their beaks124.
A few seasons ago a downy woodpecker, probably the individual one who is now my winter neighbor, began to drum early in March in a partly decayed apple-tree that stands in the edge of a narrow strip of woodland near me. When the morning was still and mild I would often hear him through my window before I was up, or by half-past six o'clock, and he would keep it up pretty briskly till nine or ten o'clock, in this respect resembling the grouse, which do most of their drumming in the forenoon. His drum was the stub of a dry limb about the size of one's wrist. The heart was decayed and gone, but the outer shell was hard and resonant125. The bird would keep his position there for an hour at a time. Between his drummings he would preen126 his plumage and listen as if for the response of the female, or for the drum of some rival. How swift his head would go when he was delivering his blows upon the limb! His beak wore the surface perceptibly. When he wished to change the key, which was quite often, he would shift his position an inch or two to a knot which gave out a higher, shriller note. When I climbed up to examine his drum he was much disturbed. I did not know he was in the vicinity, but it seems he saw me from a near tree, and came in haste to the neighboring branches, and with spread plumage and a sharp note demanded plainly enough what my business was with his drum. I was invading his privacy, desecrating127 his shrine128, and the bird was much put out. After some weeks the female appeared; he had literally129 drummed up a mate; his urgent and oft-repeated advertisement was answered. Still the drumming did not cease, but was quite as fervent130 as before. If a mate could be won by drumming she could be kept and entertained by more drumming; courtship should not end with marriage. If the bird felt musical before, of course he felt much more so now. Besides that, the gentle deities131 needed propitiating132 in behalf of the nest and young as well as in behalf of the mate. After a time a second female came, when there was war between the two. I did not see them come to blows, but I saw one female pursuing the other about the place, and giving her no rest for several days. She was evidently trying to run her out of the neighborhood. Now and then she, too, would drum briefly133 as if sending a triumphant134 message to her mate.
The woodpeckers do not each have a particular dry limb to which they resort at all times to drum, like the one I have described. The woods are full of suitable branches, and they drum more or less here and there as they are in quest of food; yet I am convinced each one has its favorite spot, like the grouse, to which it resorts, especially in the morning. The sugar-maker in the maple-woods may notice that their sound proceeds from the same tree or trees about his camp with great regularity135. A woodpecker in my vicinity has drummed for two seasons on a telegraph pole, and he makes the wires and glass insulators136 ring. Another drums on a thin board on the end of a long grape-arbor, and on still mornings can be heard a long distance.
A friend of mine in a Southern city tells me of a red-headed woodpecker that drums upon a lightning-rod on his neighbor's house. Nearly every clear, still morning at certain seasons, he says, this musical rapping may be heard. "He alternates his tapping with his stridulous call, and the effect on a cool, autumn-like morning is very pleasing."
The high-hole appears to drum more promiscuously137 than does the downy. He utters his long, loud spring call, whick—whick—whick—whick, and then begins to rap with his beak upon his perch71 before the last note has reached your ear. I have seen him drum sitting upon the ridge6 of the barn. The log cock, or pileated woodpecker, the largest and wildest of our Northern species, I have never heard drum. His blows should wake the echoes.
When the woodpecker is searching for food, or laying siege to some hidden grub, the sound of his hammer is dead or muffled138, and is heard but a few yards. It is only upon dry, seasoned timber, freed of its bark, that he beats his reveille to spring and wooes his mate.
Wilson was evidently familiar with this vernal drumming of the woodpeckers, but quite misinterprets it. Speaking of the red-bellied species, he says: "It rattles139 like the rest of the tribe on the dead limbs, and with such violence as to be heard in still weather more than half a mile off; and listens to hear the insect it has alarmed." He listens rather to hear the drum of his rival or the brief and coy response of the female; for there are no insects in these dry limbs.
On one occasion I saw downy at his drum when a female flew quickly through the tree and alighted a few yards beyond him. He paused instantly, and kept his place, apparently without moving a muscle. The female, I took it, had answered his advertisement. She flitted about from limb to limb (the female may be known by the absence of the crimson140 spot on the back of the head), apparently full of business of her own, and now and then would drum in a shy, tentative manner. The male watched her a few moments and, convinced perhaps that she meant business, struck up his liveliest tune141, then listened for her response. As it came back timidly but promptly142, he left his perch and sought a nearer acquaintance with the prudent143 female. Whether or not a match grew out of this little flirtation144 I cannot say.
Our smaller woodpeckers are sometimes accused of injuring the apple and other fruit trees, but the depredator is probably the larger and rarer yellow-bellied species. One autumn I caught one of these fellows in the act of sinking long rows of his little wells in the limb of an apple-tree. There were series of rings of them, one above another, quite around the stem, some of them the third of an inch across. They are evidently made to get at the tender, juicy bark, or cambium layer, next to the hard wood of the tree. The health and vitality145 of the branch are so seriously impaired146 by them that it often dies.
In the following winter the same bird (probably) tapped a maple-tree in front of my window in fifty-six places; and when the day was sunny, and the sap oozed147 out, he spent most of his time there. He knew the good sap-days, and was on hand promptly for his tipple148; cold and cloudy days he did not appear. He knew which side of the tree to tap, too, and avoided the sunless northern exposure. When one series of well-holes failed to supply him, he would sink another, drilling through the bark with great ease and quickness. Then, when the day was warm, and the sap ran freely, he would have a regular sugar-maple debauch149, sitting there by his wells hour after hour, and as fast as they became filled sipping150 out the sap. This he did in a gentle, caressing151 manner that was very suggestive. He made a row of wells near the foot of the tree, and other rows higher up, and he would hop26 up and down the trunk as these became filled. He would hop down the tree backward with the utmost ease, throwing his tail outward and his head inward at each hop. When the wells would freeze or his thirst become slaked152, he would ruffle153 his feathers, draw himself together, and sit and doze55 in the sun on the side of the tree. He passed the night in a hole in an apple-tree not far off. He was evidently a young bird not yet having the plumage of the mature male or female, and yet he knew which tree to tap and where to tap it. I saw where he had bored several maples in the vicinity, but no oaks or chestnuts154. I nailed up a fat bone near his sap-works: the downy woodpecker came there several times a day to dine; the nut-hatch came, and even the snow-bird took a taste occasionally; but this sap-sucker never touched it; the sweet of the tree sufficed for him. This woodpecker does not breed or abound155 in my vicinity; only stray specimens156 are now and then to be met with in the colder months. As spring approached, the one I refer to took his departure.
I must bring my account of my neighbor in the tree down to the latest date; so after the lapse4 of a year I add the following notes. The last day of February was bright and springlike. I heard the first sparrow sing that morning and the first screaming of the circling hawks157, and about seven o'clock the first drumming of my little friend. His first notes were uncertain and at long intervals, but by and by he warmed up and beat a lively tattoo158. As the season advanced he ceased to lodge in his old quarters. I would rap and find nobody at home. Was he out on a lark, I said, the spring fever working in his blood? After a time his drumming grew less frequent, and finally, in the middle of April, ceased entirely159. Had some accident befallen him, or had he wandered away to fresh fields, following some siren of his species? Probably the latter. Another bird that I had under observation also left his winter-quarters in the spring. This, then, appears to be the usual custom. The wrens160 and the nut-hatches and chickadees succeed to these abandoned cavities, and often have amusing disputes over them. The nut-hatches frequently pass the night in them, and the wrens and chickadees nest in them. I have further observed that in excavating a cavity for a nest the downy woodpecker makes the entrance smaller than when he is excavating his winter-quarters. This is doubtless for the greater safety of the young birds.
The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in the old apple-tree, but had not got his retreat quite finished, when the large hairy woodpecker appeared upon the scene. I heard his loud click, click, early one frosty November morning. There was something impatient and angry in the tone that arrested my attention. I saw the bird fly to the tree where downy had been at work, and fall with great violence upon the entrance to his cavity. The bark and the chips flew beneath his vigorous blows, and before I fairly woke up to what he was doing, he had completely demolished161 the neat, round doorway of downy. He had made a large ragged162 opening large enough for himself to enter. I drove him away and my favorite came back, but only to survey the ruins of his castle for a moment and then go away. He lingered about for a day or two and then disappeared. The big hairy usurper163 passed a night in the cavity, but on being hustled164 out of it the next night by me, he also left, but not till he had demolished the entrance to a cavity in a neighboring tree where downy and his mate had reared their brood that summer, and where I had hoped the female would pass the winter.
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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4
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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5
outlaws
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| 歹徒，亡命之徒( outlaw的名词复数 )； 逃犯 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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pilfer
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| v.盗，偷，窃 | |
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fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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owls
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| n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 ) | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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16
attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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17
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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18
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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19
larking
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| v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的现在分词 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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20
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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21
slumbers
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| 睡眠，安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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22
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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23
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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24
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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25
emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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26
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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27
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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28
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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29
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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30
wariness
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| n. 注意,小心 | |
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31
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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32
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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33
feigning
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| 假装，伪装( feign的现在分词 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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34
berate
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| v.训斥，猛烈责骂 | |
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35
berated
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| v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
accustoming
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| v.（使）习惯于( accustom的现在分词 ) | |
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37
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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38
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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39
pickpocket
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| n.扒手；v.扒窃 | |
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40
talons
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|
| 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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41
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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42
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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43
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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44
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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45
squeak
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|
| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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46
captivity
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|
| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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47
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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48
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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49
slits
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| n.狭长的口子，裂缝( slit的名词复数 )v.切开，撕开( slit的第三人称单数 )；在…上开狭长口子 | |
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50
slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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51
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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52
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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53
impaling
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| 钉在尖桩上( impale的现在分词 ) | |
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54
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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55
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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56
salute
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|
| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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57
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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58
perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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59
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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60
scudding
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| n.刮面v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的现在分词 ) | |
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61
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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62
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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63
willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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64
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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65
quills
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| n.（刺猬或豪猪的）刺( quill的名词复数 )；羽毛管；翮；纡管 | |
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66
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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67
densest
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| 密集的( dense的最高级 )； 密度大的； 愚笨的； （信息量大得）难理解的 | |
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68
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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69
evergreens
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|
| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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70
hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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71
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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72
scattered
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|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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73
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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74
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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75
wretches
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|
| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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76
hardiness
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|
| n.耐劳性，强壮；勇气，胆子 | |
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77
prolificness
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| 挥霍 | |
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78
prolific
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|
| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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79
tenacious
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|
| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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80
persistent
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|
| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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81
essentially
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|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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82
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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83
stump
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|
| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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84
curiously
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|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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85
lesser
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|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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86
nibbles
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| vt.& vi.啃，一点一点地咬（nibble的第三人称单数形式） | |
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87
excavated
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|
| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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88
excavate
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| vt.挖掘，挖出 | |
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89
plume
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|
| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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90
ornithology
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| n.鸟类学 | |
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91
enrage
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| v.触怒，激怒 | |
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92
persecuted
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| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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93
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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94
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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95
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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96
tenement
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| n.公寓；房屋 | |
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97
punctured
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| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
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98
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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99
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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100
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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101
drudgery
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| n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作 | |
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102
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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103
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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104
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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105
commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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106
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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107
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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108
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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109
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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110
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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111
strewing
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| v.撒在…上( strew的现在分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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112
excavating
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| v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
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113
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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114
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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115
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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116
brittle
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| adj.易碎的；脆弱的；冷淡的；(声音)尖利的 | |
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117
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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118
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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119
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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120
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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121
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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122
grouse
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| n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦 | |
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123
evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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124
beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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125
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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126
preen
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| v.（人）打扮修饰 | |
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127
desecrating
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| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的现在分词 ) | |
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128
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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129
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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130
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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131
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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132
propitiating
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| v.劝解，抚慰，使息怒( propitiate的现在分词 ) | |
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133
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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134
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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135
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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136
insulators
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| 绝缘、隔热或隔音等的物质或装置( insulator的名词复数 ) | |
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137
promiscuously
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| adv.杂乱地，混杂地 | |
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138
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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139
rattles
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| （使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧 | |
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140
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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141
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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142
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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143
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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144
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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145
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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146
impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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147
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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148
tipple
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| n.常喝的酒；v.不断喝，饮烈酒 | |
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149
debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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150
sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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151
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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152
slaked
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| v.满足( slake的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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153
ruffle
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| v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边 | |
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154
chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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155
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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156
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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157
hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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158
tattoo
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| n.纹身，(皮肤上的)刺花纹；vt.刺花纹于 | |
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159
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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160
wrens
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| n.鹪鹩( wren的名词复数 ) | |
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161
demolished
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| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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162
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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163
usurper
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| n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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164
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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