3 The Eyases Get on Wing

IN WHICH The Eyases Get on Ring Contents- Prev/ Next Drum, Duchess, and Lady glanced at the rabbit. It was not part of their food vocabulary, so they kept right on screaming. They were hungry for waterfowl or land birds. Frightful ate the rabbit while the eyases watched, twisting their heads from side to side and calling "pseee" when she swallowed. Duchess walked up to her, screaming in ear splitting decibels. Then the eyas lifted her wings and attacked. Frightful backed off a few steps and stared at the young falcon. Lady and Drum lowered their bodies horizontally and charged Frightful. The eyases had become dangerous. They were practicing for the

本章：小雏鹰们的新经历—— 德拉姆、达切斯和莱迪盯着这只兔子看 兔子可不在它们认得的食物清单里，所以它们一个劲尖叫不停 它们向来只吃水鸟或是陆鸟 芙莱特吃光了兔子，小雏鹰们在一旁看着，它们左右扭着脑袋，芙莱特吞咽时，它们就“吱——”地叫 达切斯走到她跟前，扯着嗓子尖叫 接着这只小雏鹰张开翅膀，发起了进攻 芙莱特往后退了几步，盯着这只年幼的猎鹰 莱迪和德拉姆伏低身子，朝着芙莱特冲了过来 小雏鹰们已经变得很有危险性了 它们正在为即将到来的

competitive world they would soon face. Frightful wanted no part of this schooling. She lifted herself into the air, fanned her wings, and flew to her tree stub. Chup came home. He brought no food to the eyases. Duchess charged him, mouth open, feathers lifted. He sat still and panted in the sun. His feathers were rumpled and he held his head low. Chup had not eaten for a day and a half. He was weak. That did not matter to Duchess. She attacked him. Chup, like Frightful, was forced to leave. Alighting on the dead limb of an oak, he looked down and saw the rabbit. Without hesitating, he dropped down onto it and ate, fending off the eyases. He could still dominate them. Chup had catholic tastes. He was nine years old. Each winter he migrated to South America. When the El Nino rains changed the balance of nature and birds were scarce, he dined on mammals and iguanas. Rabbit was food, and he was hungry. Lady and Duchess stopped screaming. Chup was eating rabbit; it must be food. Painfully hungry, Lady led a raid. She sneaked up to Chup. When he

充满竞争的世界做准备 芙莱特可不想掺和这种育儿的事 她振翅飞上天空，扑扇着翅膀，飞回了自己的残树桩 查普回家了 他什么吃的都没给小雏鹰带 达切斯朝他冲过去，大张着嘴，羽毛都炸了起来 他一动不动坐着，在太阳下直喘粗气 他的羽毛乱蓬蓬的，脑袋也耷拉着 查普已经一天半没吃过东西了 他浑身发软 可达切斯才不管这些 她向他发起了进攻 查普和芙莱特一样，被逼得离开了 他落在一棵橡树的枯树枝上，低头看见了那只兔子 他没有犹豫，扑下去吃了起来，一边推开围上来的小雏鹰 他还能镇得住它们 查普从来不挑食 他已经九岁了 每年冬天他都会迁徙到南美洲 厄尔尼诺暴雨打乱了自然平衡，鸟类变少的时候，他就吃哺乳动物和鬣蜥 兔子也是食物，而且他饿坏了 莱迪和达切斯停止了尖叫 查普都在吃兔子，那兔子肯定能吃 饿得不行的莱迪带头发起突袭 她偷偷溜到查普身边 趁他

covered the food with his wings and body, Duchess reached in from the rear and snatched the rabbit. She tore off small bites but did not like the taste. She shook her head and sent the meat flying against the rocks. Chup finished eating and flew off. Drum, who had now seen both parents eat this new food, dragged what was left under the overhang. Taking a bite in his beak, he swallowed. It was not delicious, but it was satisfying. He plucked another bite, then another. Drum was a survivor. When he was satisfied, Duchess and Lady tried the strange food again. They ate gingerly, partially satisfying their hunger. By sundown the peregrine family was fed if not full, but more importantly the family had a new housing arrangement. The eyases were now old enough to attack anything in sight, including their parents, and with that, their parents had sensibly turned the aerie over to them. Frightful and Chup did not return to the nest site. Frightful slept on the stub of the pine tree, Chup on the dead limb of his oak.

用翅膀和身体护住食物时，达切斯从后面伸爪抢走了兔子 她撕下一小块尝了尝，可不喜欢这个味道 她摇了摇头，碎肉都飞出去砸在了岩石上 查普吃完就飞走了 德拉姆已经见过爸妈都吃这种新食物，他把剩下的兔子拖到了崖檐下 他叼了一块吞进肚子 这算不上美味，但能填肚子 他又叼了一块，接着再叼一块 德拉姆是个天生的幸存者 他吃饱后，达切斯和莱迪又尝了尝这奇怪的食物 她们小心翼翼地吃着，总算稍微缓解了饥饿 太阳下山时，游隼一家虽然没吃饱，但都吃上东西了，更重要的是，一家人有了新的居住安排 小雏鹰已经长大，见什么都敢攻击，连父母都不例外，于是父母明智地把巢穴让给了它们 芙莱特和查普没再回巢穴住 芙莱特睡在松树残桩上，查普睡在橡树的枯树枝上

That evening they all watched orange and pink clouds float against a turquoise-blue sky. Chup felt restless. His offspring could not only eat on their own but also defend themselves. Just before sundown he spread his wings and soared out over the valley. He climbed high, he spiraled down, he skimmed along the river. With quick wing pumps he shot up and out of sight of Frightful and the eyases. Just before the sun set, he sped earthward, landing lightly on his dead branch. He heard the eyases chittering, saw Frightful sitting erect on her stub, and let his nictitating membranes slip across each eye. His lower eyelids closed upward and cut out the last of the daylight. The cliff side was quiet. The peregrine family was on schedule with summer. The eyases were completely feathered, feeding themselves, and aggressive, and the parents were perched alone. With the help of Mole, Frightful now regularly brought food to the eyases. Each morning she flew southward to Mole's farm and brought back strange but nourishing foods, which she dropped to the youngsters. Chup, who had gotten thin doing the job of two parents, began to put on weight.

这天晚上，他们一起看着橙粉色的云朵飘浮在青蓝色的天空 查普觉得有些坐不住了 他的孩子们不仅能自己吃饭，还能保护自己了 太阳下山前，他展开翅膀，翱翔在山谷上空 他直冲高空，又盘旋落下，贴着河面滑翔 他快速扑扇几下翅膀，一下子冲上高空，飞出了芙莱特和小雏鹰的视线 就在太阳落山前，他快速冲向地面，轻轻落在了自己的枯树枝上 他听见小雏鹰叽叽喳喳，看见芙莱特笔直坐在树桩上，于是让瞬膜慢慢滑过了双眼 他的下眼睑向上合拢，把最后一点天光挡在了外面 悬崖边变得静悄悄的 游隼一家刚好跟上了夏天的节奏 小雏鹰已经长齐羽毛，能自己觅食，练出了攻击性，父母则各自单独栖息 在摩尔的帮助下，芙莱特现在总能给小雏鹰找到食物 每天早上她都会向南飞到摩尔的农场，带回新奇又有营养的食物，扔给小家伙们 原本干两个人的活累得瘦巴巴的查普，也慢慢长回了体重

Mole also gained weight. The old hound had the canniness of a wolf. It didn't take him long to realize he had a hunting companion who was quicker on the pickup than he. The first two times Frightful went off with the game he had flushed, he could do nothing but bark. Then he learned that she didn't like groundhogs. She had tried one and abandoned it to him. She also didn't like skunks or rats. He chased them all. She got the rabbits and pheasants. He got the rest. Mole and Frightful went hunting almost every day. When they had harvested the most conspicuous and abundant animals of the farm fields, Mole led her to more distant fields. The animals they left behind would breed, and their offspring would breed, until there were too many for their food supply. Then the two hunters would return and adjust the numbers again. When the fields yielded little game, they worked the barnyards and farm gardens. Together they kept the rabbits and groundhogs from eating the farmers" crops and the rats from eating the corn stored in cribs and bins.

摩尔也长了不少肉 这只老猎犬有着狼一样的聪明劲儿 他没花多久就发现，自己有了一个打猎搭档，反应比他快多了 前两次芙莱特带走了他惊出来的猎物，他只能汪汪叫，什么也做不了 后来他发现，芙莱特不喜欢土拨鼠 她试过一次，就把土拨鼠留给了他 她也不喜欢臭鼬和老鼠 这些猎物全都归他追 芙莱特拿兔子和野鸡 剩下的全都归他 摩尔和芙莱特几乎每天都一起打猎 等他们把农田里显眼又多的猎物处理得差不多了，摩尔就带芙莱特去更远的农田 留下来的动物会繁衍后代，后代还会继续生育，直到数量多到食物不够分配 然后这两个猎人就会回来，再把数量调整到合适的范围 农田里没多少猎物的时候，他们就去谷场和农场菜园找猎物 他们一起阻止兔子和土拨鼠偷吃农民的庄稼，也阻止老鼠偷吃谷仓粮囤里储存的玉米

And so Frightful hunted with Mole, as she had hunted with Sam, and became the provider Chup and the eyases needed. The eyases grew properly. At five weeks of age they were as big as their parents. Only a few bits of down on their heads and shoulders and their brown-gray color told how old they were. On a hot day in early July, Duchess sat at the edge of the aerie, her wings lifted to keep her cool. A wind blew over her. It moved more rapidly over the top of her wings than under them and created lift. Up she went. She hung above the ledge for a moment, became confused, and stalled herself out by moving her wings and changing the wind flow. She fell back to the aerie. Lady faced the wind, lifted her wings, and was airborne. She, too, fell back. She sat on her heels. Something new and wonderful had happened to her. She had been in the air with space between herself and the cliff. She and the wind had managed this wonder, which had changed her sense of who she was. She was a bird. She must fly.

就这样，小惊跟着摩尔打猎，就像从前她跟着山姆打猎一样，成了恰普和雏鹰们所需的食物提供者。 雏鹰们发育得很好。 出生五周的时候，它们就长得和爸爸妈妈一样大了。 只有头上、肩膀残留的几撮绒毛，还有棕灰色的羽毛，能看出它们的年纪。 七月初的一个大热天，女公爵蹲在猛禽巢边，扬起翅膀给自己降温。 一阵风吹过她身边。 风吹过翼面的速度比翼下更快，产生了升力。 她飞起来了。 她在岩架上方悬了一会儿，一下子慌了神，扑腾翅膀打乱了气流，就此失速了。 她掉回了巢里。 莱迪迎风扬起翅膀，飞到了空中。 她也掉回去了。 她蹲坐在那里。 一件新鲜又奇妙的事，发生在了她身上。 她飞到了空中，身体和悬崖之间隔出了一片空间。 她和风一起完成了这个奇迹，也改变了她对自己的认知。 她是一只鸟。 她一定要飞翔。