Walden [?w?ld?n] (Issue 188) 15. Winter Animals (5) [6] At length the jays arrive, whose discordant screams were heard long before, as they were warily making their approach an eighth of a mile off, and in a stealthy and sneaking manner they flit from tree to tree, nearer and nearer, and pick up the kernels which the squirrels have dropped. Then, sitting on a pitch pine bough, they attempt to swallow in their haste a kernel which is too big for their throats and chokes them; and after great labor they disgorge it, and spend an hour in the endeavor to crack it by repeated blows with their bills. They were manifestly thieves, and I had not much respect for them; but the squirrels, though at first shy, went to work as if they were taking what was their own. [7] Meanwhile also came the chickadees in flocks, which, picking up the crumbs the squirrels had dropped, flew to the nearest twig and, placing them under their claws, hammered away at them with their little bills, as if it were an insect in the bark, till they were sufficiently reduced for their slender throats. A little flock of these titmice came daily to pick a dinner out of my woodpile, or the crumbs at my door, with faint flitting lisping notes, like the tinkling of icicles in the grass, or else with sprightly day day day, or more rarely, in spring-like days, a wiry summery phe-be from the woodside. They were so familiar that at length one alighted on an armful of wood which I was carrying in, and pecked at the sticks without fear. I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. The squirrels also grew at last to be quite familiar, and occasionally stepped upon my shoe, when that was the nearest way. [8] When the ground was not yet quite covered, and again near the end of winter, when the snow was melted on my south hillside and about my wood-pile, the partridges came out of the woods morning and evening to feed there. Whichever side you walk in the woods the partridge bursts away on whirring wings, jarring the snow from the dry leaves and twigs on high, which comes sifting down in the sunbeams like golden dust, for this brave bird is not to be scared by winter. It is frequently covered up by drifts, and, it is said, "sometimes plunges from on wing into the soft snow, where it remains concealed for a day or two." I used to start them in the open land also, where they had come out of the woods at sunset to "bud" the wild apple trees. They will come regularly every evening to particular trees, where the cunning sportsman lies in wait for them, and the distant orchards next the woods suffer thus not a little. I am glad that the partridge gets fed, at any rate. It is Nature's own bird which lives on buds and diet drink. 最后那松鴉們來了，那刺耳的尖叫好久以來就聽到了，當他們謹慎地在八分之一英里遠就準備著靠近，偷偷摸摸溜過來從一棵樹飛掠到另一顆樹，近了，近了，撿起了松鼠們掉落的玉米穗兒。然后坐在一顆油松枝頭，他們急急地試圖吞下對他們喉嚨過大的玉米粒，嗆著了；經(jīng)過很大努力才嘔出來，花了一小時時間試圖把它弄碎，就是用硬嘴不住氣地去啄。他們明顯是些賊，我對他們?nèi)鄙倬匆猓豢墒悄切┧墒螅m然起先有點害羞，可接下來的做派仿佛那東西本來就屬于他們自己。 同時還來了成群的山雀兒，他們撿拾松鼠掉落的碎屑，飛到最近的樹枝，抱在爪子下，用他們的小嘴敲呀敲，仿佛那是藏在樹瘤里的一只蟲子，直到把碎屑瘦身到能讓他們細小的喉嚨充分咽下去。一小群這樣的山雀兒，每天都來從我的柴堆那里啄食正餐，或我門前的面包屑，發(fā)著細微、飛速、渾濁不清的調(diào)子，像青草間冰柱相撞嘀鈴鈴的聲響，或者活潑的“得得得”，或罕有地來個春天般雀躍的“得得”，真是一個來自林中夏天的金屬技師。他們和我是如此熟悉，以至于最終有一只落在我正抱回屋的一抱柴上，毫不害怕地啄起了那些柴棍兒。一次，我在村鎮(zhèn)的花園里鋤土，一只麻雀竟然落在我的肩膀上呆了會兒，我感覺那一場面我更加杰出，比戴著任何什么別的肩章。那些松鼠后來也和我變得相當熟悉，偶爾抄近路時，也蹬著我的鞋面過去。 當大地到了沒有完全被覆蓋和再一次臨近冬天的結(jié)束，當我那南山和周圍柴堆上的雪被融化，松雞，早晨和傍晚都走出林子來這里覓食。不管你在林子走在那邊，松雞都會翅膀搧得呼呼響爆出去，震撼了高處那枯葉枯枝上的雪，讓它們在陽光之中瀉下就像金色的粉塵，因為這勇敢的鳥才不懼怕冬天。它經(jīng)常被雪掩埋，據(jù)說“有時候撲棱著翅膀暴跌入柔雪中，能掩藏一兩天。”【原注：此引語查無可考?！课医?jīng)常也在那開闊地啟動他們，他們是夕陽落下走出林子去吃那些野蘋果樹蓓蕾“錦上添花”的。他們通常每晚都來而且去某些特定的樹，那里狡猾的獵人埋伏就等著他們，遠處那緊挨林子的果園可沒為此少受損失。無論如何能養(yǎng)得起松雞還是令我高興。那是大自然自己的鳥靠蓓蕾為生，飲的是天上的精華。