辉喉煌蜂鸟
Selasphorus ardens
Selasphorus ardens
Salvin’s Flame-bearer
- 中文名
- 辉喉煌蜂鸟
- 学名
- Selasphorus ardens
- 合集
- 古尔德蜂鸟图谱
- 绘者
- John Gould（约翰·古尔德）
- 年代
- 1887
- 图版号
- Pl. 391, Suppl. Vol.
- 原书页码
- p.391
- 授权
- CC0 1.0 Universal (Public domain)
十观
- 纵幅 1.66∶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 Selasphorus ardens：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。中文名“辉喉煌蜂鸟”是后人据学名回译的通行叫法，与古书里的旧名未必对得上——名与物之间，总隔着一层翻译。
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。看形制不必求全：记住喙形、翼式与栖姿，这一类的骨架就立住了。
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
夫列子御风而行，泠然善也，旬有五日而后反。
—— 《庄子·逍遥游》
蜂鸟悬停于空，不落不飞，最近于“御风”。庄子说的是一种自由的姿态，蜂鸟把它做成了生理事实。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。花语是后人添上去的，花本身并不知道；但这层“不知道”，正是它最动人的地方。
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 1887 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。看叶的老嫩、花与果是否同在枝上，季节便八九不离十；看题名里藏着的地名，来路也猜得出七分。
书与人
《古尔德蜂鸟图谱》只署了约翰·古尔德一个人的名字。版画是集体工程：绘图、刻版、上色各有其人，真正决定这幅图好不好看的，常是没留下名字的刻工与上色师。
带走一双眼睛
如果只能记一句，就记郭熙那八个字：远望取其势，近看取其质。看图、看花、看人，都一样。1887 年的那只鸟早已化作尘土，它留在纸上的样子，却比任何一只活着的同类都长寿。
关于本图版
《古尔德蜂鸟图谱》（Gould's Hummingbirds）由约翰·古尔德绘制，1849—1887 年间印行，本图即其中一幅。辉喉煌蜂鸟（Selasphorus ardens）是本图的主角，在分类体系中列于蜂鸟科（Trochilidae）。
该合集全编共 421 幅图版，此图为其中之一，图版编号 Pl. 391, Suppl. Vol.，对应原书第 391 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）
The species of the genus Selasphorus, as pointed out by Mr. Elliot, are distinguished by the colour of their throats; and in the present species and S. platycercus the throat has been characterized by him as “dark amethystine-red.”
S. ardens differs from S. platycercus in being smaller, and in having the flanks and abdomen dark green instead of grey. Mr. Salvin has given the following notes on the species—
This species has the throat coloured just as in S. platycercus, which is in other respects a very different species. Its nearest allies, however, are S. flammula and S. torridus; but it differs from both in the coloration of the throat, and also in having the central tail-feathers black, edged with rufous instead of green: this latter distinction is more conspicuous when the tail is compared with that of S. flammula. The wholly black bill and the absence of the elongated gular feathers distinguish it from S. torridus. The male sent by Arcé is not in quite perfect plumage, but is so far satisfactory as to show a few faded feathers on the throat. These are bronzy, and quite different in colour from the gorget-feathers of either S. flammula or S. torridus.
The following complete description of the sexes has been borrowed from Mr. Elliot’s work above alluded to:—
Male. Upper parts dark bronzy green, lores and ear-coverts rufous, the latter mixed with black. Throat metallic amethystine-red. Breast, middle of abdomen, and under tail-coverts white, flanks dark green, which colour almost meets on the upper part of breast. Tail purplish-black, both webs of middle feathers andinner webs of lateral ones margined with rufous. Wings purplish brown. Bill black. Total length 2
inches, wing 1 , tail 1 , culmen . Female. Upper parts bronzy green, margined with rufous on the sides of lower part of back and rump. Throat buffy white, spotted with brown. Breast white. Underparts buff. Middle tail-feathers bronzy green, lateral ones buff with a black bar across their central part. Bill black.
I am indebted to Messrs. Salvin and Godman for the loan of the pair of birds from which the figures in the Plate are taken.
References
- Selasphorus ardens, Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 209.—Scel. & Salv. Nomencl. Av. Neotr. p. 84 (1873).—Muls. Hist. Nat. Oiseaux-Mouches, iv. p. 103 (1877).—Elliot, Synopsis of the Humming-Birds, p. 110 (1878).
