海底兩萬里 第276期 第21章 在陸地上的兩天(8)

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Birds of paradise! I exclaimed.

無雙鳥，無雙鳥！我喊。

Order Passeriforma, pision Clystomora, Conseil replied.

燕雀目，直腸亞目?？等麪柣卮?。

Partridge family? Ned Land asked.

鶴鵠科嗎?尼德·蘭問。

I doubt it, Mr. Land. Nevertheless, I'm counting on your dexterity to catch me one of these delightful representatives of tropical nature!

我想不是，尼德·蘭師傅。不過我要靠您的好手段，把這種熱帶出產(chǎn)的最美麗可愛的東西打下一只來！

I'll give it a try, professor, though I'm handier with a harpoon than a rifle.

我試試，教授，雖然我用慣了魚叉，使槍要差一些。

Malaysians, who do a booming business in these birds with the Chinese, have various methods for catching them that we couldn't use. Sometimes they set snares on the tops of the tall trees that the bird of paradise prefers to inhabit. At other times they capture it with a tenacious glue that paralyzes its movements. They will even go so far as to poison the springs where these fowl habitually drink. But in our case, all we could do was fire at them on the wing, which left us little chance of getting one. And in truth, we used up a good part of our ammunition in vain.

這種烏是馬來亞人對中國人的一宗重要貿(mào)易；馬來亞人用種種不同的方法來捕捉這種鳥，但我們都不能使用。他們或者把羅網(wǎng)安放在無雙鳥喜歡居住的高樹頂上，或者使用強力的雀膠，使它們粘上不能動。他們甚至于把毒藥投到這些鳥經(jīng)常去喝的泉水中。至于我們現(xiàn)在，只有在它們飛翔時進行射擊這一種辦法。我們很少有機會可以擊中它們。果然我們確實白費了一些彈藥。

Near eleven o'clock in the morning, we cleared the lower slopes of the mountains that form the island's center, and we still hadn't bagged a thing. Hunger spurred us on. The hunters had counted on consuming the proceeds of their hunting, and they had miscalculated. Luckily, and much to his surprise, Conseil pulled off a right-and-left shot and insured our breakfast. He brought down a white pigeon and a ringdove, which were briskly plucked, hung from a spit, and roasted over a blazing fire of deadwood. While these fascinating animals were cooking, Ned prepared some bread from the artocarpus. Then the pigeon and ringdove were devoured to the bones and declared excellent. Nutmeg, on which these birds habitually gorge themselves, sweetens their flesh and makes it delicious eating.

到十一點左右，我們已經(jīng)走過了構(gòu)成這島中心的第：層山脈，可是仍然毫無所得。腹中作響，饑餓煎熬著我們。打獵人相信自己打獵一定有成果，可是錯了，一點獵物也得不到。很幸運，康塞爾開了兩槍，完全出于意外地獲得了午餐的獵物。他打下一只白鴿和一只山鳩。急忙把它們拔掉羽毛，掛在叉子上，放在燃點起來的干木頭的旺火上烤著。當烤炙這些很有意味的動物的時候，尼德·蘭就調(diào)理著面包果。一會兒，白鴿和山鳩連骨頭都被吃得精光，大家都說很好吃。這些鳥慣常吃很多的肉豆寇，因此它們的肉像加了香料一般，成為一盤又青又好吃的萊。