第13章 The Morning Oratorio 早晨的清唱剧
Wilson Flagg, 1806-1884, was born in Beverly, Mass. He pursued his academical course in Andover, at Phillips Academy, and entered Harvard College, but did not graduate. His chief Works are: "Studies in the Field and Forest, " "The Woods and Byways of New England, " and "The Birds and Seasons of New England."
Nature, for the delight of waking eyes, has arrayed the morning heavens in the loveliest hues of beauty. Fearing to dazzle by an excess of delight, she first announces day by a faint and glimmering twilight, then sheds a purple tint over the brows of the rising morn, and infuses a transparent ruddiness throughout the atmosphere. As daylight widens, successive groups of mottled and rosy-bosomed clouds assemble on the gilded sphere, and, crowned with wreaths of fickle rainbows, spread a mirrored flush over hill, grove, and lake, and every village spire is burnished with their splendor.
At length, through crimsoned vapors, we behold the sun's broad disk, rising with a countenance so serene that every eye may view him ere he arrays himself in his meridian brightness. Not many people who live in towns are aware of the pleasure attending a ramble near the woods and orchards at daybreak in the early part of summer. The drowsiness we feel on rising from our beds is gradually dispelled by the clear and healthful breezes of early day, and we soon experience an unusual amount of vigor and elasticity.
During the night, the stillness of all things is the circumstance that most powerfully attracts our notice, rendering us peculiarly sensitive to every accidental sound that meets the ear. In the morning, at this time of year, on the contrary, we are overpowered by the vocal and multitudinous chorus of the feathered tribe. If you would hear the commencement of this grand anthem of nature, you must rise at the very first appearance of dawn, before the twilight has formed a complete semicircle above the eastern porch of heaven.
The first note that proceeds from the little warbling host, is the shrill chirp of the hairbird, —occasionally vocal at an hours on a warm summer night. This strain, which is a continued trilling sound, is repeated with diminishing intervals, until it becomes almost incessant. But ere the hairbird has uttered many notes, a single robin begins to warble from a neighboring orchard, soon followed by others, increasing in numbers until, by the time the eastern sky is flushed with crimson, every male, robin in the country round is singing with fervor.
It would be difficult to note the exact order in which the different birds successively begin their parts in this performance; but the bluebird, whose song is only a short, mellow warble, is heard nearly at the same time with the robin, and the song sparrow joins them soon after with his brief but finely modulated strain. The different species follow rapidly, one after another, in the chorus, until the whole welkin rings with their matin hymn of gladness.
I have often wondered that the almost simultaneous utterance of so many different notes should produce no discords, and that they should result in such complete harmony. In this multitudinous confusion of voices, no two notes are confounded, and none has sufficient duration to grate harshly with a dissimilar sound. Though each performer sings only a few strains and then makes a pause, the whole multitude succeed one another with such rapidity that we hear an uninterrupted flow of music until the broad light of day invites them to other employments.
When there is just light enough to distinguish the birds, we may observe, here and there, a single swallow perched on the roof of a barn or shed, repeating two twittering notes incessantly, with a quick turn and a hop at every note he utters. It would seem to be the design of the bird to attract the attention of his mate, and this motion seems to be made to assist her in discovering his position. As soon as the light has tempted him to fly abroad, this twittering strain is uttered more like a continued song, as he flits rapidly through the air.
But at this later moment the purple martins have commenced their more melodious chattering, so loud as to attract for a while the most of our attention. There is not a sound in nature so cheering and animating as the song of the purple martin, and none so well calculated to drive away melancholy. Though not one of the earliest voices to be heard, the chorus is perceptibly more loud and effective when this bird has united with the choir.
When the flush of the morning has brightened into vermilion, and the place from which the sun is soon to emerge has attained a dazzling brilliancy, the robins are already less tuneful. They are now becoming busy in collecting food for their morning repast, and one by one they leave the trees, and may be seen hopping upon the tilled ground, in quest of the worms and insects that, have crept out during the night from their subterranean retreats.
But as the robins grow silent, the bobolinks begin their vocal revelries; and to a fanciful mind it might seem that the robins had gradually resigned their part in the performance to the bobolinks, not one of which is heard until some of the former have concluded their songs. The little hairbird still continues his almost incessant chirping, the first to begin and the last to quit the performance. Though the voice of this bird is not very sweetly modulated, it blends harmoniously with the notes of other birds, and greatly increases the charming effect of the combination.
It would be tedious to name all the birds that take part in this chorus; but we must not omit the pewee, with his melancholy ditty, occasionally heard like a short minor strain in an oratorio; nor the oriole, who is really one of the chief performers, and who, as his bright plumage flashes upon the sight, warbles forth a few notes so clear and mellow as to be beard above every other sound. Adding a pleasing variety to all this harmony, the lisping notes of the meadowlark, uttered in a shrill tone, and with a peculiar pensive modulation, are plainly audible, with short rests between each repetition.
There is a little brown sparrow, resembling the hairbird, save a general tint of russet in his plumage, that may be heard distinctly among the warbling host. He is rarely seen in cultivated grounds, but frequents the wild pastures, and is the bird that warbles so sweetly at midsummer, when the whortleberries are ripe, and the fields are beautifully spangled with red lilies.
There is no confusion in the notes of his song, which consists of one syllable rapidly repeated, but increasing in rapidity and rising to a higher key towards the conclusion. He sometimes prolongs his strain, when his notes are observed to rise and fall in succession. These plaintive and expressive notes are very loud and constantly uttered, during the hour that precedes the rising of the sun. A dozen warblers of this species, singing in concert, and distributed in different parts of the field, form, perhaps, the most delightful part of the woodland oratorio to which we have listened.
At sunrise hardly a robin can be beard in the whole neighborhood, and the character of the performance has completely changed during the last half hour. The first part was more melodious and tranquilizing, the last is more brilliant and animating. The grass finches, the vireos, the wrens, and the linnets have joined their voices to the chorus, and the bobolinks are loudest in their song. But the notes of the birds in general are not so incessant as before sunrise. One by one they discontinue their lays, until at high noon the bobolink and the warbling flycatcher are almost the only vocalists to be heard in the fields.
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威尔逊·弗拉格（1806～1884年），出生于美国马萨诸塞州的贝弗利。他在安德沃的菲利普斯学院进修文学专业，随后考进哈佛大学，但是并没有完成学业。主要作品有《在野外和森林的研究》、《新英格兰的森林和小路》和《新英格兰的鸟类和季节》。
大自然睁开喜悦的双眼，在清晨的天空展现出最美丽的色彩。因为担心人们受到光线的过度刺激，她正式宣布，白天光线相对弱一些，然后给冉冉升起的太阳罩上淡紫色的光芒，再让红色的光线穿透空气。随着太阳升起，斑驳、红润的云朵聚集在镀金的气层之上，变幻无常的彩虹缭绕在它们周围。顶部聚集起来的气体将阳光折射到下面的山丘、树林和湖泊中，所有教堂的尖顶都映照出闪亮的光芒。
最后，在深红色蒸汽的笼罩下，我们看到太阳那宽阔的圆盘安详地爬上山，每一个注视她的人都能看到她按照子午圈散发出来的光芒。每当夏日破晓时分，漫步于树林或者果园，住在城里的人并不是都能意识到这种流淌在心底的快乐。在清晨清新、健康的微风的吹拂下，我们因早起而产生的疲倦一扫而光，很快就体会到了一种从未有过的活力。
到了晚上，一切都彻底归于沉寂，正是这种沉寂吸引了我们的注意，使我们对所有碰巧进入耳鼓的声音非常敏感。与之形成对比的是，每年到这个时节的清晨，我们都会被鸟儿悠扬动听的合唱所震撼。如果你有幸听到这种淳朴的大自然之歌，那么，晓月在天际形成一个半圆形光环之前，你就会在黎明到来之际，听到鸟儿的啼鸣闻声起床。
鸟儿唱出来的第一个音符，就是梳妆鸟那刺耳的尖叫，在温暖的夏夜，时不时会传来它的叫声。这种由鸟儿鸣唱所带来的张力，还在不间断地持续着，每隔一段时间就会被削弱，但它从未因此而停止。不过，在梳妆鸟发出更多的音符之前，一只知更鸟开始从附近的果园唱起了歌，没过多久，其他的鸟儿也加入其中，它们的数量开始不断增加，直到东边的天空变成深红色，在这个国家生活的所有雄性知更鸟都饶有兴致地唱起来。
要想在种类不同的鸟儿歌唱时辨别这首乐曲的准确顺序，是一件相当困难的事，但是，蓝知更鸟的情况则有些不一样，它的歌声非常急促，而且比较柔和，在知更鸟们同时发声的时候，很难听到蓝知更鸟的声音，在麻雀加入到这唱歌大军之后，这种和声很快就会演变成简洁且音调精确的乐曲。不同种类的鸟儿一只接一只，纷纷加入唱歌大军。直到整个天空布满羽翼，响起欢快的清晨颂歌。
令我感觉奇怪的是，这么多种不同的声音融合在一起，共同发声，竟然没有产生任何不和谐的声音，最后发出的声音竟然如此完美。在多种声音的合奏下，没有两个音符混在一起的现象，也没有任何一个声音足以持续到令人感到刺耳。虽然每位歌唱家都只唱乐曲中的几个音符，并且它们唱完后就会停下来，但是，整个乐曲在极快的情况下进行，乐段和乐段之间转换非常快，在这种音乐的溪流中，我们竟然没有听到任何的停顿，直到白天明亮的光芒诚挚地向它们发出其他的邀请。
当阳光明亮到我们足以区分鸟儿的种类时，我们就会偶尔观察到一只麻雀在谷仓的屋顶或木棚的屋顶上休息，它会不停地重复两个音符，它每次发出其中的一个音符，都会伴随有快速的回转和变换音符的音调。看起来就像是吸引异性的手段，它这样做的目的就是为了让异性容易发现自己。当太阳光诱惑它再次起飞的时候，它就拍打翅膀飞向天空，它的这种因为歌唱而产生的张力就会变成不间断的乐曲。
但是，没过多久，紫色的雨燕就开始了更悦耳动听的鸣叫，它的声音非常洪亮，可以轻而易举地吸引我们的注意。在大自然中，你再也找不到任何一种鸟叫能像紫色雨燕那般悦耳动听，没有人听到它歌唱之后还能忧愁在心。尽管雨燕的歌声不是我们听到的最早的声音，但是当雨燕聚集在一起合唱时，这清晨的颂歌便变得更加洪亮、更有穿透力。
当清晨的阳光变成朱红色时，很快，在太阳升起的地方，光芒四射，正在歌唱的知更鸟停了下来。它们现在正忙着寻找自己的早餐，一只接一只地离开树林，你能看到它们正在耕耘过的田地里来回跳跃，寻找小虫和昆虫。到了晚上，它们会悄悄地藏起来。
但是，当知更鸟刚归于平静的时候，食米鸟就开始它们的音乐狂欢了。对于充满幻想的人来说，好像知更鸟完成了它们在合唱中的工作，然后把角色让给了食米鸟。知更鸟们就像提前商量好了一样，当它们完成了自己的使命之后，全都停止了演唱。唯独小梳妆鸟还在旁若无人地歌唱着，它早早就加入了合唱大军，却是最晚走的一个。尽管这种鸟儿的歌声并不是那么悦耳柔和，但是它的声音能和其他鸟儿的声音完美地融合在一起，并且大大加强了和声的魅力效果。
要想把所有参加这场美妙大合唱的鸟儿的名字都叫出来，可不是件容易的事。但是，我们千万不能漏掉小燕子，它唱出的旋律很是感人，乍一听，它的歌声就像是清唱剧中的一个简短的乐段；而白头翁恰恰相反，很显然，它在歌唱大军里扮演着首领的角色，就如同从它闪亮的羽毛折射出的光芒一样，它的声音非常纯净、柔和、独特，即使它只唱出几个音符，你也很容易在和声中辨别出它的声音。它的这种独特的声音给这清晨的乐曲带来了更多的婉转变化，草地鹨的声音很清脆，它具有独特的、令人深思的变调，在每次短暂的间歇中，你很容易听到它无与伦比的歌喉。
陪伴在梳妆鸟身边的还有棕色的小麻雀，它的羽毛大体上都是赤褐色，别看它身体小，但它的声音还是很好辨认的。它栖息在野外的牧场里，在有人类文明的地方很难看到它的身影，这种鸟儿在夏天的叫声非常甜美动听，这时越橘浆果已经成熟，田野里到处可见漂亮的红色百合花。
它的歌声里不会有音符的混乱，虽然是快速重复同一个音节，但是会不断增加速度和提高音高。有时候，它会把乐段拉长，如此一来，它的歌声里就出现了高低音的完美融合。这些忧郁且富有表现力的音符都非常嘹亮，在太阳升起的这一个小时里，这些鸟儿一直重复这些音符。十多种不同种类的小鸟聚集在一起歌唱，就像是一场奢华的音乐会，它们在乐曲中肩负各自的使命，或许这就是我们听到的森林清唱剧中最华美的乐章。
到了日出时分，知更鸟受到了所有邻居的挑战，在最后半个小时里，知更鸟那带有特色的声音完全变了样。第一个声部的旋律更加悠扬、更加宁静，而到了最后一个声部则更加华丽和动人。草地雀、捕虫鸣鸟、鹪鹩和红雀也加入到合唱大军中来，在这动听的大合唱中，要数食虫鸟的声音最响亮。但是，总体来看，鸟儿的歌唱在日出之前是不会停的。很快，它们一个接一个安静下来，直到中午艳阳高照的时候，那些鸟儿才会散去，整个树林只剩下食米鸟和京燕这两个歌唱家了。