Birth of Gay-Neck

By Dhan Gopal Mukerji

T he city of Calcutta, which boasts of a million people, must have at least two million pigeons. Every third Hindu boy has perhaps a dozen pet carriers, tumblers, fantails and pouters. The art of domesticating pigeons goes back thousands of years in India, and she has contributed two species of pigeons as a special product of her bird fanciers, the fantail and the pouter. Love and care have been showered on pigeons for centuries by emperors, princes and queens in their marble palaces, as w ell as by the poor, in their humble homes. The gardens, grottos1. grotto: （人工开挖用以避暑的）洞室。and fountains of the Indian rich—the small f ield of f lowers and fruits of the common folk, each has its ornament and music, —many-coloured pigeons and cooing w hite doves w ith ruby eyes.

Even now, any winter morning, foreigners who visit our big cities may see on the f lat-roofed houses innumerable boys waving white f lags as signals to their pet pigeons f lying up in the crisp cold air. Through the blue heavens f locks of the birds soar like vast clouds. They start in small f locks, and spend about twenty minutes circling over the roofs of their owners' homes. Then they slowly ascend, and all the separate groups from different houses of the town merge into one big f lock, and f loat far out of sight. How they ever return to their own homes is a w onder, for all the housetops look alike in shape in spite of their rose, yellow, violet and white colours.

《彩虹鸽》小说封面

But pigeons have an amazing sense of direction and love of their owners. I have yet to see creatures more loyal than pigeons and elephants. I have played with both, and the tusker on four feet in the country, or the bird on two wings in the city, no matter how far they w andered, w ere by their almost infallible instinct brought back to their friend and brother—Man.2. tusker: 有长牙的动物（如象、野猪等）；infallible: 绝对可靠的，肯定有效的。

My elephant friend was called Kari, of whom you have heard before, and the other pet that I knew w ell w as a pigeon. His name w as Chitra-griva; Chitra

meaning “painted in gay colours,” and Griva, “neck”—in one phrase, pigeon Gay-Neck. Sometimes he w as called “Iridescence-throated.”

Of course, Gay-Neck did not come out of his egg with an iridescent throat; he had to grow the feathers week by w eek; and until he w as three months old, there w as very little hope that he would acquire the brilliant collar; but at last, when he did achieve it, he was the most beautiful pigeon in my town in India, and the boys of my town owned forty thousand pigeons.

But I must begin this story at the very beginning. I mean with Gay-Neck's parents. His father was a tumbler who married the most beautiful pigeon of his day; she came from a noble old stock of carriers. That is why Gay-Neck proved himself later such a worthy carrier pigeon in w ar as w ell as in peace. From his mother he inherited w isdom, from his father bravery and alertness. He w as so quick-witted that sometimes he escaped the clutches of a hawk by tumbling at the last moment right over the enemy's head. But of that later, in its proper time and place.

Now let me tell you what a narrow escape3. narrow escape: 九死一生，幸免于难。Gay-Neck had while still in the egg. I shall never forget the day when, through a mistake of mine, I broke one of the two eggs that his mother had laid. It was very stupid of me. I regret it even now. Who know s? Maybe w ith that broken egg perished the f inest pigeon of the w orld. It happened this way. Our house was four stories high—and on its roof was built our pigeon house. A few days after the eggs were laid I decided to clean the pigeonhole in which Gay-Neck's mother was sitting on them. I lifted her gently and put her on the roof beside me. Then I lifted each egg carefully and put it most softly in the next pigeonhole, which, however, had no cotton or f lannel4. f lannel: 法兰绒。on its hard wooden f loor. Then I busied myself with the task of removing the debris from the birth-nest. As soon as that was done, I brought one egg back and restored it to its proper place. Next I reached for the second one and laid a gentle but f irm hand on it. Just then something fell upon my face like a roof blow n by the storm. It was Gay-Neck's father furiously beating my face with his wings. Worse still, he had placed the claws of one of his feet on my nose. The pain and surprise of it was so great that ere5. ere: 在……之前。I knew how, I had dropped the egg. I was engrossed in beating off the bird from my head and face, and at last he f lew aw ay. But too late: the little egg lay broken in a mess at my feet. I was furious w ith its clumsy father and also with myself. Why with myself? Because I should have been prepared for the father bird's attack. He took me for a stealer of his eggs, and in his ignorance was risking his life to prevent my robbing his nest. May I impress it upon you that you should anticipate all kinds of surprise attacks w hen cleaning a bird's home during nesting season.

But to go on with our story. The mother bird knew the day when she was to break open the egg-shell w ith her ow n beak, in order to usher Gay-Neck into the world. Though the male sits on the egg pretty nearly one-third of the time—for he does that each

day from morning till late afternoon—yet he does not know when the hour of his child's birth is at hand. No one save6. save: 除……外。the mother bird arrives at that divine certainty. We do not yet understand the nature of the unique w ireless message by w hich she learns that w ithin the shell the yolk and the white of her egg have turned into a baby-bird. She also knows how to tap the right spot so that the shell will break open without injuring her child in the slightest. To me that is as good as a miracle.

Gay-Neck's birth happened exactly as I have described. About the twentieth day after the laying of the egg, I noticed that the mother was not sitting on it any more. She pecked the father and drove him away every time he f lew dow n from the roof of the house and volunteered to sit on the egg. Then he cooed, w hich meant, “Why do you send me away?”

She, the mother, just pecked him the more, meaning, “Please go. The business on hand is very serious.”

At that, the father f lew away. That worried me, for I was anxious for the egg to hatch, and was feeling suspicious about its doing it at all. With increased interest and anxiety I w atched the pigeonhole. An hour passed. Nothing happened. It was about the third quarter of the next hour that the mother turned her head one way and listened to something—probably a stirring inside that egg. Then she gave a slight start. I felt as if a tremor were running through her w hole body. With it a great resolution came into her. Now she raised her head, and took aim. In tw o strokes she cracked the egg open, revealing a wee7. wee: 极小的。bird, all beak and a tiny shivering body! Now watch the mother. She is surprised. Was it this that she was expecting all these long days? Oh, how small, how helpless! The moment she realizes her child's helplessness, she covers him up with the soft blue feathers of her breast.

只见母鸽抬起头，对准目标。她两下就啄开了鸽蛋，从里面露出了一只小小鸟，整个嘴，还有小小的颤抖的身体！且看母鸽，她非常惊讶。这就是她这么多日来期待的小宝宝吗？噢，他是多么弱小，多么无助啊！母鸽意识到鸽宝宝的无助时，就用胸前柔软的蓝色羽毛盖住了他。

以拥有上百万人而自豪的加尔各答城，肯定至少有两百万只鸽子。每三个印度男孩子大概就会拥有十二只鸽子，比如宠物信鸽、翻头鸽、扇尾鸽和球胸鸽。在印度，驯鸽的技艺可以追溯到几千年以前，而印度也给这里的鸟迷们献上了两个特殊的鸽子品种——扇尾鸽和球胸鸽。几百年来，无论是大理石宫殿里的皇帝、王子和皇后，还是寒碜窝棚里的穷苦百姓，都对鸽子关爱备至。无论是印度富人家的花园、洞室、喷泉，还是普通百姓的花果小田地，各自都有装饰和音乐，那就是颜色缤纷的彩鸽和咕咕叫的有着红宝石般眼睛的白鸽。

即使到现在，任何一个冬天的早晨，来到我们大城市的外国人也可能会看到无数男孩子站在房子的平顶上，挥舞着白色的旗帜，在清冷的空气中向飞起的爱鸽发出信号。在蓝天上翱翔而过的鸽群，犹如大片大片的云朵一般。起初鸽子是一小群一小群的，在主人的房顶上空盘旋20分钟左右。随后，他们慢慢地飞高，所有来自城里各家的单独鸽群合并为一大群，越飞越远，飞出人们的视野。他们到底是怎样回家的一直是个谜，因为尽管房顶颜色不同，有玫瑰色、黄色、紫罗兰色和白色，但所有的房顶形状看上去都是相似的。

然而，鸽子有一种令人惊叹的方向感和对主人的爱。我见过的生物中最忠诚的莫过于鸽子和大象。我曾经跟这二者为伴，无论是乡村里的四足长牙动物，还是城市里的双翼飞鸟，无论他们走多远，总能通过自己绝对可靠的本能回到他们的朋友和兄弟——人类——身边。

我的大象朋友名叫卡里，你们以前可能听说过他。我熟悉的另一个宠物是一只鸽子。他的名字叫齐特拉-格里瓦；“齐特拉”意思是“用鲜艳颜色画的”，“格里瓦”意思是“脖颈”，连起来说就是“长着鲜艳颜色脖颈的鸽子”。有时，他被称为“彩虹颈”。

当然，彩虹鸽刚从蛋里出生时并没有彩虹颈，他必须得经过几个星期才能长出羽毛；直到三个月大的时候，他会拥有鲜亮颈羽的希望还微乎其微；但最后，当他真正长出鲜亮颈羽的时候，他就成了印度我那个城里最漂亮的鸽子，我那个城里的男孩子们有四万只鸽子呢。

不过，我还是从头开始讲述这个故事吧。我是说，从彩虹鸽的父母亲讲起。他的父亲是一只翻头鸽，娶了当时最漂亮的一只母鸽，她出身于一个古老高贵的信鸽家族。这就是彩虹鸽后来能证明自己无论是在战争还是和平时期都是相当出色的信鸽的原因。他继承了母亲的智慧和父亲的勇敢与机敏。彩虹鸽是那样机智灵敏，有时候在最后时刻会一个筋斗翻到敌人头部的正上方，逃脱老鹰的魔爪。不过，这一点以后会在适当的时间和地点再说。

现在，让我来告诉你彩虹鸽还在蛋里时九死一生的经历。我永远都不会忘记那一天，当时母鸽生下了两个蛋，我一时失误，打破了其中一只。我真是笨到家了，甚至现在还感到后悔。谁知道呢？说不定打破那只蛋就等于扼杀了世界上最出色的一只鸽子。事情是这样发生的。我们的房子有四层楼高——房顶上建有鸽巢。母鸽生下两个蛋的几天后，我决定清扫一下鸽巢的垃圾。当时，母鸽正卧在那两只蛋上。我轻轻地抱起母鸽，把

她放在我身边的房顶上。然后我小心翼翼地拿起每个蛋，极其温柔地放在邻近的鸽巢里。不过这个鸽巢没有在硬木地板上铺棉花或法兰绒。接下来，我就忙着清理鸽巢里的杂物。一清理完，我就拿着其中一只蛋放回原处。接着，我又伸手拿起另一个蛋，轻轻而又牢牢地握在手里。就在这时，有什么东西落在了我的脸上，就像风暴刮过房顶一般。原来是彩虹鸽的父亲正怒气冲冲地用翅膀扑打我的脸。更糟糕的是，他一只爪子抓在了我的鼻子上。既疼痛万分，又突如其来，以至于我还不知道是怎么回事呢，就把手里的蛋掉在了地上。我全神贯注地拍打公鸽，使他离开我的头和脸。最后他终于飞走了。但是，一切都太迟了：那个小小的鸽蛋落在我的脚边，碎成了一摊。我对这只蠢笨的公鸽，也对自己怒不可遏。为什么对自己这样呢？因为我本该对公鸽的袭击作好准备。他以为我是偷蛋贼，就懵懂无知地冒着生命危险来阻止我抢劫他的窝。但愿我能给你留下深刻的印象，就是当你在鸽子筑巢孵蛋的季节清扫鸽巢时，应该预料到各种突然袭击的发生。

不过，我们还是接着讲故事吧。母鸽知道应该在哪天用自己的嘴啄开蛋壳，以便让彩虹鸽来到这个世界。尽管

公鸽几乎三分之一的时间都卧在鸽蛋上——因为他每天从早上到傍晚都是如此——但他并不知道雏鸽什么时候将破壳而出。只有母鸽才确切知道那个神圣的时刻。我们还不明白这种独特的无线电信号的特性，母鸽就是通过它得知蛋壳内的蛋黄和蛋白已经变成了鸽宝宝。母鸽也知道如何轻击准确的位置，好让蛋壳破开，而不让鸽宝宝受到丝毫伤害。在我看来，这简直就像是奇迹。

彩虹鸽的出生完全像我描述过的那样。我注意到，大约从下蛋后的第20天起，母鸽就不再伏在鸽蛋上了。每次公鸽从房顶上飞下来，主动要卧在蛋上的时候，母鸽就啄他，赶他走。这时候公鸽就会咕咕直叫，意思是说：“你为什么赶我走啊？”

母鸽只是啄他啄得更凶了，意思是说：“请走吧。即将发生的事情非常严肃。”

就这样，公鸽飞走了。这让我非常担心，因为我急切盼望这只蛋孵化，而且对它能不能孵出来感到怀疑。我越来越兴致勃勃，越来越渴望地观察鸽巢。一个小时过去了。什么都没有发生。又过了大约45分钟，母鸽把脑袋转向一边，倾听着什么——很可能是那只鸽蛋里的动静。随后，她微微地惊动了一下。我觉得仿佛她的整个身体都在震颤。随之，她下定了巨大的决心。只见她抬起头，对准目标。她两下就啄开了鸽蛋，从里面露出了一只小小鸟，整个嘴，还有小小的颤抖的身体！且看母鸽，她非常惊讶。这就是她这么多日来期待的小宝宝吗？噢，他是多么弱小，多么无助啊！母鸽意识到鸽宝宝的无助时，就用胸前柔软的蓝色羽毛盖住了他。