Delattria viridipallens
Delattria viridipallens
Green-throated Cazique
- 学名
- Delattria viridipallens
- 合集
- 古尔德蜂鸟图谱
- 绘者
- John Gould（约翰·古尔德）
- 年代
- 1850
- 图版号
- Pl. 63, Vol. II
- 原书页码
- p.63
- 授权
- CC0 1.0 Universal (Public domain)
十观
- 纵幅 1.39∶1
第一眼
竖划三寸，当千仞之高；横墨数尺，体百里之迥。
—— 南朝宋·宗炳《画山水序》
三寸的竖线可当千仞高山，几尺横墨能容百里之远。尺幅从来不是障碍，取舍才是本事。这一幅是竖的：眼睛从下往上走，落点在中段那只鸟身上。先别急着看羽毛，让姿态先立起来。第二步凑近一寸：看线与色的交界，色有没有压住线，线有没有断。第三步，把视线放到最深的那一小块：整幅的用色秩序，都是从那里排开的。
名与实
学名 Delattria viridipallens：前一词是属，管它归在哪一类；后一词是种加词，管它在这一类里凭什么与众不同。名字是通行证，也是懒办法——记住两个词，就抓住了一整个物种。此幅尚无通行中文名，姑以学名相称；在没有本地名字的地方，学名就是它唯一的身份证。
形与色
蜂鸟为美洲最小之鸟，喙细长如针，舌分叉成管，可伸入花心吸蜜；翼小而振频极高，能悬停、能倒飞。此幅未作色相归档，只能就形制论。画幅高而窄，形与色的关系因此看得格外清楚：先读轮廓，再读色层，最后才看笔触。
构图与呼吸
画幅高而窄，鸟栖在枝的中段，上下留白多——十九世纪鸟谱的标准版式，留给它飞走的余地。全幅只画一只，不作解剖附图——这类图更近于“观赏”，而非“鉴定”。空白不是没画完，是给眼睛留的落脚处：一张图若四边都塞满，花反而会闷。
一刀一色
十九世纪后半叶，石版与彩色石印渐成主流：颜色可以直接印出，不再依赖手工，线条反倒退居其次。图像的“准确”提高了，手性却淡了。还有一种证据在纸背：铜版压进纸里的那道痕、上色处微微凸起的颜料、再版时磨浅的线。扫描件里也能看出七分。想动笔临它的人记住一句：先铺大块的形与色，干后再收细部；石印的柔和层次来自薄涂与网点，水彩分两三遍淡铺即可逼近。
诗境
穿花蛱蝶深深见，点水蜻蜓款款飞。
—— 唐·杜甫《曲江二首》
中土无蜂鸟，然“穿花”之态，杜甫早已写过：贴着花心走，是采蜜者的共同姿态。诗以气行，画以形立；两种“看”叠在一起，才是看画的意思。
花语
阿兹特克以蜂鸟为战神与太阳的化身；欧洲维多利亚时代则以蜂鸟为收藏与装饰的极致，百万只羽毛被做成胸饰。中国旧籍无此鸟，故无象征——这空白本身，就是一部博物学交流史。象征多半来自形状与气味：像杯的、像泪的、香的、臭的——先有形状，后有意义。
时与地
热带美洲几乎全年可见，花期即其季节。仅产美洲，自阿拉斯加南部至火地岛，以安第斯山最为繁盛。中土无蜂鸟，汉籍不载，晚清海外游记始见其名。图上所记的 1850 年是刊行之年，不是采到那只鸟的年份；真正的观察记录通常比出版早一两年。图上的产地常是“据说来自”，图上的花期常是“盛开那十日”——两处都要打个折扣读。
书与人
《古尔德蜂鸟图谱》只署了约翰·古尔德一个人的名字。从画稿到成图要过好几双手：转刻的人求准，上色的人求快——快与准之间，就是各幅之间深浅不一的来历。
带走一双眼睛
鉴赏力不是知识，是习惯：每次多看一眼，十年之后你看什么都和别人不一样。二百年后，这只鸟的后代或许仍在某处活着；而纸上这一只，永远停在 1850 年的那个季节。
关于本图版
此图原刊于《古尔德蜂鸟图谱》（Gould's Hummingbirds），绘者为约翰·古尔德，成书于 1849—1887 年间。图中描绘的是 Delattria viridipallens，归入蜂鸟科（Trochilidae）。
全编共收录 421 幅图版，本图是其中一幅，原书将其列为 Pl. 63, Vol. II，见第 63 页，版式为纵幅。图像由公有领域原件扫描修复而来，细节在放大视图中仍清晰可辨。
原书文字（英文 / 法文）
Guatemala
The Delattria viridipallens is a native of Guatemala and Mexico. The specimens from which MM. Bourcier and Mulsant took their description were brought to Europe by M. De Lattre, who obtained them at Coban; others, in my own collection, have been sent to me by my friend George Ure Skinner, Esq., from Guatemala, where they had been procured and beautifully prepared by M. Riviera Paz. The species offers but little to recommend it to our notice, for its structure exhibits no peculiarity, nor is its plumage conspicuous for beauty,—indeed it is its want of colour that is its principal characteristic; even the pale green colouring of the throat, which suggested the specific appellation of viridipallens, is not very bright or glittering, and hence I have not sought the aid of a metallic agent in depicting it, but have depended upon ordinary means for its faithful representation.
Like Delattria Henrici and D. delattria-clemenciæ, this bird bears the semi-crescentic mark of white behind the eye, and like them, too, presents a similar difference in the colouring of the throat of the two sexes, the female being destitute of the green hue which decorates that part in the male.
The male has the head, upper surface, wing-coverts and flanks coppery green, the coppery hue prevailing on the lower part of the back and rump; behind the eye a semi-crescentic mark of white; throat pale green; breast and abdomen white; under tail-coverts pale greenish grey, fringed with white; wings purplish brown; central tail-feathers bluish brown; the remainder brownish grey, the grey tint becoming gradually more apparent or stronger as the feathers recede from the centre; bill black; feet dark brown.
The female is very similar, but has the throat greyish white instead of green; and the lateral tail-feathers of a paler hue than those of the male.
The birds are represented of the natural size, on the Oncidium ornithorhynchum, one of the beautiful Orchids of Guatemala.
References
- Trochilus viridi-pallens, Boure. et Muls. Ann. de la Soe. Sci. de Lyons, 1846, p. 321.—Ib. Rey. Zool. 1846, p. 316.
- Polytmus viridi-pallens, Gray and Mitch. Gen. of Birds, vol. i. p. 108, Polytmus, sp. 57.
- Delattria viridi-pallens, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., p. 70, Delattria, sp. 2.
- Thaumantias viridipallens, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1854, p. 255.
- Agyrtria viridipallens, Reichenb. Aufz. der Colibris, p. 10.
