两次被认定消失的鸟

在岛的东部,波莉飞进一片长满苔藓的古老月桂林。阳光很难照到地面。瓦拉峰附近这片阴凉的森林,是一种灰粉色小鸟最后的家。这种鸟在地球上别的地方都没有,名字叫亚速尔灰雀,当地人叫它普里奥洛。

In the east of the island, Polly flew into an old forest of laurel trees covered in moss. Not much sunlight reached the ground. This cool forest near Pico da Vara is the last home of a small grey and pink bird found nowhere else on Earth, called the priolo.

这种鸟差点消失过两次。一九三二年以后,人们再也没有见过它,很多年里大家都以为它没有了。后来在一九六七年,人们又在同一片森林里找到了一小群。即使这样,农业还是不断夺走它的家,最后只剩下不到一百对能繁殖的鸟。它是欧洲最稀有的鸣禽之一。

The bird almost disappeared twice. People stopped seeing it in nineteen thirty-two, and for many years everyone thought it was gone. Then, in nineteen sixty-seven, a small group was found again in this same forest. Even so, farming kept shrinking its home, until fewer than one hundred breeding pairs were left. It is one of the rarest songbirds in Europe.

人们花了很多年来救它。他们清掉长得很快的外来树,重新种上本地的月桂树,因为这种鸟需要月桂树来觅食和栖身。波莉看见两只灰雀从树枝上飞起,胸前闪着粉色,轻声互相呼唤,然后消失在树叶里。

People worked for years to save it. They removed fast-growing foreign trees and planted native laurel instead, the kind the bird needs for food and shelter. Polly watched two priolos fly from a branch, showing a flash of pink, calling softly to each other before disappearing into the leaves.

她一声不响地等着,希望再看到它们,可森林又在鸟儿身后合上了。这像一笔公平的交易:一点安静,换一种还活着的鸟。

She waited without a sound, hoping to see more, but the forest closed around the birds again. It felt like a fair trade: a little silence, for a bird still surviving.