Of the most interesting captive parrots I have met in recent years I will speak here of two. The first was a St Vincent bird, Chrysotis guildingi, brought home with seven other parrots of various species by Lady Thompson, the wife of the then Administrator12 of the Island. This is a handsome bird, green, with blue head and yellow tail, and is a member of an American genus numbering over forty species. He received his funny specific name in compliment to a clergyman who was a zealous13 collector not of men's souls, but of birds' skins. To ornithologists this parrot is interesting on account of its rarity. For the last thirty years it has existed in small numbers; and as it is confined to the [Pg_251] island of St Vincent it is feared that it may become extinct at no distant date. Altogether there are about five hundred species of parrots in the world, or about as many parrots as there are species of birds of all kinds in Europe, from the great bustard, the hooper swan, and golden eagle, to the little bottle-tit whose minute body, stript of its feathers, may be put in a lady's thimble. And of this multitude of parrots the St Vincent Chrysotis, if it still exists, is probably the rarest.
The parrot I have spoken of, with his seven travelling companions, arrived in England in December, and a few days later their mistress witnessed a curious thing. On a cold grey morning they were enjoying themselves on their perches16 in a well-warmed room in London, before a large window, when suddenly they all together emitted a harsh cry of alarm or terror—the sound which they invariably utter on the appearance of a bird of prey18 in the sky, but at no other time. Looking up quickly she saw that snow in big flakes19 had begun to fall. It was the birds' first experience of such a phenomenon, but they had seen and had been taught to fear something closely resembling falling flakes—flying feathers to wit. The fear of flying feathers is universal among species that are preyed20 upon by hawks21. In [Pg_252] a majority of cases the birds that exhibit terror and fly into cover or sit closely have never actually seen that winged thunderbolt, the peregrine falcon22, strike down a duck or pigeon, sending out a small cloud of feathers; or even a harrier or sparrow-hawk pulling out and scattering24 the feathers of a bird it has captured, but a tradition exists among them that the sight of flying feathers signifies danger to bird life.
When I was in the young barbarian25 stage, and my playmates were gaucho26 boys on horseback on the pampas, they taught me to catch partridges in their simple way with a slender cane27 twenty to twenty-five feet long, a running noose28 at its tip made from the fine pliant29 shaft30 of a rhea's wing feather. The bird was not a real partridge though it looks like it, but was the common or spotted31 tinamou of the plains, Nothura maculosa, as good a table bird as our partridge. Our method was, when we flushed a bird, to follow its swift straight flight at a gallop32, and mark the exact spot where it dropped to earth and vanished in the grass, then to go round the spot examining the ground until the tinamou was detected in spite of his protective colouring sitting close among the dead and fading grass and herbage. The cane was put out, the circle narrowed until the small noose was exactly over the bird's head, so that [Pg_253] when he sprang into the air on being touched by the slender tip of the cane he caught and strangled himself. To make the bird sit tight until the noose was actually over his head, we practised various tricks, and a very common one was, on catching33 sight of the close-squatting partridge, to start plucking feathers from a previously-killed bird hanging to our belt and scatter23 them on the wind. Sometimes we were saved the trouble of scattering feathers when we were followed by a pair of big carrion35 hawks on the look-out for an escaped bird or for any trifle we throw to them to keep them with us. The effect was the same in both cases; the sight of the flying feathers was just as terrifying as that of the big hovering hawks, and caused the partridge to sit close.
This way of taking the tinamou may seem unsportsmanlike. Well, if I were a boy in a wild land again—with my present feelings about bird life, I mean—I should not do it. Nor would I shoot them; for I take it that the gun is the deadliest instrument our cunning brains have devised to destroy birds in spite of their bright instinct of self-preservation, their faculty36 of flight, and their intelligence. It is a hundred times more effective than the boy-on-horseback's long cane with its [Pg_254] noose made of an ostrich37 feather—therefore more unsportsmanlike.
To return. The resemblance of falling flakes to flying white feathers does not deceive birds accustomed to the sight of snow: it is very striking, nevertheless, and so generally recognised that most persons in Europe have heard of the old woman plucking her geese in the sky. It is curious to find the subject discussed in Herodotus. In Book IV. he says: "The Scythians say that those lands which are situated38 in the northernmost parts of their territories are neither visible nor practicable by reason of the feathers that fall continually on all sides; for the earth is so entirely39 covered, and the air is so full of these feathers, that the sight is altogether obstructed40." Further on he says: "Touching41 the feathers ... my opinion is that perpetual snows fall in those parts, though probably in less quantity during the summer than in winter, and whoever has observed great abundance of snow falling will easily comprehend what I say, for snow is not unlike feathers."
Probably the Scythians had but one word to designate both. To go back to the St Vincent parrot. Concerning a bird of that species I have heard, and cannot disbelieve, a remarkable42 story. [Pg_255] During the early years of the last century a gentleman went out from England to look after some landed property in the island, which had come to him by inheritance, and when out there he paid a visit to a friend who had a plantation43 in the interior. His friend was away when he arrived, and he was conducted by a servant into a large, darkened, cool room; and, tired with his long ride in the hot sun, he soon fell asleep in his chair. Before long a loud noise awoke him, and from certain scrubbing sounds he made out that a couple of negro women were engaged in washing close to him, on the other side of the lowered window blinds, and that they were quarrelling over their task. Of course the poor women did not know that he was there, but he was a man of a sensitive mind and it was a torture to him to have to listen to the torrents45 of exceedingly bad language they discharged at one another. It made him angry. Presently his friend arrived and welcomed him with a hearty46 hand-shake and asked him how he liked the place. He answered that it was a very beautiful place, but he wondered how his friend could tolerate those women with their tongues so close to his windows. Women with their tongues! What did he mean? exclaimed the other in great surprise. He meant, he said, those wretched nigger [Pg_256] washerwomen outside the window. His host thereupon threw up the blind and both looked out: no living creature was there except a St Vincent parrot dozing47 on his perch17 in the shaded verandah. "Ah, I see, the parrot!" said his friend. And he apologised and explained that some of the niggers had taken advantage of the bird's extraordinary quickness in learning to teach him a lot of improper48 stuff.
Another parrot, which interested me more than the St Vincent bird, was a member of the same numerous genus, a double-fronted amazon, Chrysotis lavalainte, a larger bird, green with face and fore-part of head pure yellow, and some crimson49 colour in the wings and tail. I came upon it at an inn, the Lamb, at Hindon, a village in the South Wiltshire downs. One could plainly see that it was a very old bird, and, judging from the ragged50 state of its plumage, that it had long fallen into the period of irregular or imperfect moult—"the sere51, the yellow leaf" in the bird's life. It also had the tremor52 of the very aged44—man or bird. But its eyes were still as bright as polished yellow gems53 and full of the almost uncanny parrot intelligence. The voice, too, was loud and cheerful; its call to its mistress—"Mother, mother!" would ring through [Pg_257] the whole rambling55 old house. He talked and laughed heartily56 and uttered a variety of powerful whistling notes as round and full and modulated57 as those of any grey parrot. Now, all that would not have attracted me much to the bird if I had not heard its singular history, told to me by its mistress, the landlady58. She had had it in her possession fifty years, and its story was as follows:—
Her father-in-law, the landlord of the Lamb, had a beloved son who went off to sea and was seen and heard of no more for a space of fourteen years, when one day he turned up in the possession of a sailor's usual fortune, acquired in distant barbarous lands—a parrot in a cage! This he left with his parents, charging them to take the greatest care of it, as it was really a very wonderful bird, as they would soon know if they could only understand its language, and he then began to make ready to set off again, promising59 his mother to write this time and not to stay away more than five or at most ten years.
Meanwhile, his father, who was anxious to keep him, succeeded in bringing about a meeting between him and a girl of his acquaintance, one who, he believed, would make his son the best wife in the world. The young wanderer saw and loved, and as the feeling was returned he soon married and endowed [Pg_258] her with all his worldly possessions, which consisted of the parrot and cage. Eventually he succeeded his father as tenant60 of the Lamb, where he died many years ago; the widow was grey when I first knew her and old like her parrot; and she was like the bird too in her youthful spirit and the brilliance61 of her eyes.
Her young sailor had picked up the bird at Vera Cruz in Mexico. He saw a girl standing62 in the market place with the parrot on her shoulder. She was talking and singing to the bird, and the bird was talking, whistling, and singing back to her—singing snatches of songs in Spanish. It was a wonderful bird, and he was enchanted63 and bought it, and brought it all the way back to England and Wiltshire. It was, the girl had told him, just five years old, and as fifty years had gone by it was, when I first knew it, or was supposed to be, fifty-five. In its Wiltshire home it continued to talk and sing in Spanish, and had two favourite songs, which delighted everybody, although no one could understand the words. By and by it took to learning words and sentences in English, and spoke15 less in Spanish year after year until in about ten to twelve years that language had been completely forgotten. Its memory was not as good as that of Humboldt's celebrated64 parrot of the [Pg_259] Maipures, which had belonged to the Apures tribe before they were exterminated65 by the Caribs. Their language perished with them, only the long-living parrot went on talking it. This parrot story took the fancy of the public and was re-told in a hundred books, and was made the subject of poems in several countries—one by our own "Pleasures of Hope" Campbell.
Nevertheless I thought it would be worth while trying a little Spanish on old Polly of the Lamb, and thought it best to begin by making friends. It was of little use to offer her something to eat. Poll was a person who rather despised sweeties and kickshaws. It had been the custom of the house for half a century to allow Polly to eat what she liked and when she liked, and as she—it was really a he—was of a social disposition66 she preferred taking her meals with the family and eating the same food. At breakfast she would come to the table and partake of bacon and fried eggs, also toast and butter and jam and marmalade, at dinner it was a cut off the joint67 with (usually) two vegetables, then pudding or tart34 with pippins and cheese to follow. Between meals she amused herself with bird seed, but preferred a meaty mutton-bone, which she would hold in one hand or foot and feed on with great satisfaction. It was [Pg_260] not strange that when I held out food for her she took it as an insult, and when I changed my tactics and offered to scratch her head she lost her temper altogether, and when I persisted in my advances she grew dangerous and succeeded in getting in several nips with her huge beak68, which drew blood from my fingers.
It was only then, after all my best blandishments had been exhausted69, and when our relations were at their worst, that I began talking to her in Spanish, in a sort of caressing70 falsetto like a "native" girl, calling her "Lorito" instead of Polly, coupled with all the endearing epithets71 commonly used by the women of the green continent in addressing their green pets. Polly instantly became attentive72. She listened and listened, coming down nearer to listen better, the one eye she fixed73 on me shining like a fiery74 gem54. But she spoke no word, Spanish or English, only from time to time little low inarticulate sounds came from her. It was evident after two or three days that she was powerless to recall the old lore75, but to me it also appeared evident that some vague memory of a vanished time had been evoked—that she was conscious of a past and was trying to recall it. At all events the effect of the experiment was that her hostility76 vanished, and we became [Pg_261] friends at once. She would come down to me, step on to my hand, climb to my shoulder, and allow me to walk about with her.
It saddened me a few months later to receive a letter from her mistress announcing Polly's death, on 2nd December 1909.
I have thought since that this bird, instead of being only five years old when bought, was probably aged twenty-five years or more. Naturally, the girl who had been sent into the market-place to dispose of the bird would tell a possible buyer that it was young; the parrots one wants to buy are generally stated to be five years old. However, it may be that the bird grew old before its time on account of its extraordinary dietary. The parrot may have an adaptive stomach, still, one is inclined to think that half a century of fried eggs and bacon, roast pork, boiled beef and carrots, steak and onions, and stewed77 rabbit must have put a rather heavy strain on its system.
Many parrots have lived longer than Polly in captivity78, long as her life was; and here it strikes me as an odd circumstance that Polly's specific name was bestowed79 on the species, the double-fronted amazon, as a compliment to the distinguished80 French ornithologist14, La Valainte, who has himself [Pg_262] recorded the greatest age to which a captive parrot has been known to attain81. This bird was the familiar African grey species. He says that it began to lose its memory at the age of sixty, to moult irregularly at sixty-five, that it became blind at ninety, and died aged ninety-three.
We may well believe that if parrots are able to exist for fifty years to a century in the unnatural82 conditions in which they are kept, caged or chained in houses, over-fed, without using their enormously-developed wing-muscles, the constant exercise of which must be necessary to perfect health and vigour83, their life in a state of nature must be twice as long.
To return to parrots in general. This bird has perhaps more points of interest for us than any other of the entire class: his long life, unique form, and brilliant colouring, extreme sociability84, intelligence beyond that of most birds, and, last, his faculty of imitating human speech more perfectly85 than the birds of other families.
The last is to most persons the parrot's greatest distinction; to me it is his least. I do not find it so wonderful as the imitative faculty of some mocking birds or even of our delightful86 little marsh-warbler, described in another book. This may be because I have never had the good fortune to meet with a [Pg_263] shining example, for we know there is an extraordinary difference in the talking powers of parrots, even in those of the same species—differences as great, in fact, as we find in the reasoning faculty between dog and dog, and in the songs of different birds of the same species. Not once but on several occasions I have heard a song from some common bird which took my breath away with astonishment87. I have described in another book certain blackbirds of genius I have encountered. And what a wonderful song that caged canary in a country inn must have had, which tempted88 the great Lord Peterborough, a man of some shining qualities, to get the bird from its mistress, an old woman who loved it and refused to sell it to him, by means of a dishonest and very mean trick. Denied the bird, he examined it minutely and went on his way. In due time he returned with a canary closely resembling the one he wanted in size, colour, and markings, concealed89 on his person. He ordered dinner, and when the good woman was gone from the room to prepare it, changed his bird for hers, then, having had his meal, went on his way rejoicing. Still he was curious to learn the effect of his trick, and whether or not she had noticed any difference in her loved bird; so, after a long interval90, he came once [Pg_264] more to the inn, and seeing the bird in its cage in the old place began to speak in praise of its beautiful singing as he had heard it and remembered it so well. She replied sadly that since he listened to and wanted to buy it an unaccountable change had come over her bird. It was silent for a spell, perhaps sick, but when it resumed singing its voice had changed and all the beautiful notes which everyone admired were lost. The great man expressed his regret, and went away chuckling91 at his deliciously funny joke.
The ordinary talking parrot is no more to me than the ordinary or average canary, piping his thin expressionless notes; he is a prodigy92 I am pleased not to know. On the other hand there are numerous authenticated93 cases of parrots possessed94 of really surprising powers, and it was doubtless the mimicking96 powers of such birds of genius which suggested such fictions as that of the Totá Kuhami in the East; and in Europe, Gresset's lively tale of Vert Vert and the convent nuns97.
It was perhaps a parrot of this rare kind which played so important a part in the early history of South America. It is nothing but a legend of the Guarani nation, which inhabit Paraguay, nevertheless I do believe that we have here an account [Pg_265] mainly true of an important event in the early history of the race or nation. This parrot is not the impossible bird of the fictitious98 Totá Kahami order we all know, who not only mimics99 our speech but knows the meaning of the words he utters. He was nothing but a mimic95, exceptionally clever, and the moral of the story is the familiar one that great events may proceed from the most trivial causes, once the passions of men are inflamed100.
The tradition was related centuries ago to the Jesuit Fathers in Paraguay, and I give it as they tell it, briefly101.
? ? ? ? ?
In the beginning a great canoe came over the waters from the east and was stranded102 on the shores of Brazil. Out of the canoe came the brothers Tupi and Guarani and their sons and daughters with their husbands and wives and their children and children's children.
Tupi was the leader, and being the eldest103 was called the father, and Tupi said to his brother: Behold104, this great land with all its rivers and forests, abounding105 in fish and birds and beasts and fruit, is ours, for there are no other men dwelling106 in it; but we are few in number, let us therefore continue to live together with our children in one village.
[Pg_266] Guarani consented, and for many years they lived together in peace and amity107 like one family, until at last there came a quarrel to divide them. And it was all about a parrot that could talk and laugh and sing just like a man. A woman first found it in the forest, and not wishing to burden herself with the rearing of it she gave it to another woman. So well did it learn to talk from its new mistress that everybody admired it and it grew to be the talk of the village.
Then the woman who had found and brought it, seeing how much it was admired and talked about, went and claimed it as her own. The other refused to give it up, saying that she had reared it and had taught it all it knew, and by doing so had become its rightful owner.
Now, no person could say which was in the right, and the dispute was not ended and tongues continued wagging until the husbands of the two women became engaged in the quarrel. And then brothers and sisters and cousins were drawn108 into it, until the whole village was full of bitterness and strife109, all because of the parrot, and men of the same blood for the first time raised weapons against one another. And some were wounded and others killed in open fight, and some were treacherously110 slain111 when hunting in the forest.
[Pg_267] Now when things had come to this pass Tupi the Father, called his brother to him and said: O brother Guarani, this is a day of grief to us who had looked to the spending of our remaining years together with all our children at this place where we have lived so long. Now this can no longer be on account of the great quarrel about a parrot, and the shedding of blood; for only by separating our two families can we save them from destroying one another. Come then, let us divide them and lead them away in opposite directions, so that when we settle again they may be far apart. Guarani consented, and he also said that Tupi was the elder and their head, and was called the Father, and it was therefore in his right to remain in possession of the village and of all that land and to end his days in it. He, on his part, would call his people together and lead them to a land so distant that the two families would never see nor hear of each other again, and there would be no more bitter words and strife between them.
Then the two old brothers bade each other an eternal farewell, and Guarani led his people south a great distance and travelled many moons until he came to the River Paraguay, and settled there; and his people still dwell there and are called by his name to this day.
[Pg_268] Only, I beg to add, they do not call their nation by that word, as the Spanish colonists112 first spelt it in their carelessness, and as they pronounce it. Heaven knows how we pronounce it! They, the Guarani people, call themselves W?-r?-n?-eé, in a soft musical voice. Also they call their river, which we spell Paraguay, and pronounce I don't know how, P?-r?-w?-eé.
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1
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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resounding
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| adj. 响亮的 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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4
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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5
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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6
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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7
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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10
raucous
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| adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的 | |
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pandemonium
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| n.喧嚣，大混乱 | |
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administrator
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| n.经营管理者，行政官员 | |
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zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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ornithologist
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| n.鸟类学家 | |
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15
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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perches
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| 栖息处( perch的名词复数 )； 栖枝； 高处； 鲈鱼 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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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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flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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preyed
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| v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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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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falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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scatter
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| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
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scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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25
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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gaucho
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| n. 牧人 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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noose
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| n.绳套，绞索（刑）；v.用套索捉；使落入圈套；处以绞刑 | |
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pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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tart
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| adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇 | |
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carrion
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| n.腐肉 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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ostrich
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| n.鸵鸟 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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39
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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40
obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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41
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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42
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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43
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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44
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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45
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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47
dozing
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| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
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48
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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49
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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51
sere
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| adj.干枯的；n.演替系列 | |
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52
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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53
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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gem
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| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
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rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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56
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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57
modulated
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| 已调整[制]的，被调的 | |
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58
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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59
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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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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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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76
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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stewed
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| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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81
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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82
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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83
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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84
sociability
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| n.好交际，社交性，善于交际 | |
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85
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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87
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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88
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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91
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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prodigy
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| n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆 | |
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authenticated
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| v.证明是真实的、可靠的或有效的( authenticate的过去式和过去分词 )；鉴定，使生效 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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mimicking
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| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似 | |
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nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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98
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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99
mimics
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| n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似 | |
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100
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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101
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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102
stranded
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| a.搁浅的，进退两难的 | |
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103
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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104
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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105
abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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106
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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107
amity
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| n.友好关系 | |
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108
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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109
strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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110
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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111
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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112
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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