評論
打印
His father gladly agreed to help him and suggested that they build a house suitable for both bluebirds and tree swallows, and for purple martins, too, if they wished to come, though martins had not nested in Meriden for many years. First they wrote to the Department of Agriculture in Washington for a pamphlet called Homes for Birds, and with this as a guide they went to work. Early in April the little dwelling was ready to put up. In appearance it was like an old-fashioned, two-story New England farmhouse, painted white, and it was fastened to the end of a stout pole about eighteen feet long.
父親很高興地答應(yīng)幫助他，并建議他們建造一座房子，既適合藍鳥和樹燕子，也適合紫燕，如果它們愿意來的話。首先，他們寫信給位于華盛頓的農(nóng)業(yè)部，索要一本名為《鳥類家園》的小冊子，并以此為指導(dǎo)開始工作。四月初，這座小房子就準備好了。從外表上看，像是一座老式的兩層樓高的新英格蘭農(nóng)舍，漆成白色，綁在一根大約十八英尺長的粗柱子上。
The bluebirds had already chosen a hole in the apple tree for their first home; so for the present they were not interested in any other. But on the telephone wire sat a pair of tree swallows, their steel-blue coats and white shirt fronts glistening in the sunlight. As soon as Duncan and his father began to raise the pole into the air, the swallows left their perch, and twittering excitedly, flew round and round the little bird house as if they knew that it was for them. It had barely come to rest as the end of the pole dropped into the hole which had been dug for it, when the swallows alighted boldly on the roof and took possession as its first tenants.
這些藍知更鳥已經(jīng)在蘋果樹上選擇了一個洞作為它們的第一個家；所以目前對其他的都不感興趣。但電話線上坐著一對樹燕子，鋼藍色外套和白色襯衫前襟在陽光下閃閃發(fā)光。鄧肯和他的父親剛把桿子舉到空中，燕子們就離開了它們的棲木，興奮地嘰嘰喳喳地叫著，繞著小鳥的房子飛啊飛，好像它們知道這是給它們的。燕子們大膽地落在屋頂上，成為它的第一批房客。
