鸡头蛇身怪

　　河北省承德县三沟镇甲皮山村周玉满家的一只母鸡已经养了两年，原来足有2公斤重，下蛋也很正常。但从2004年7月开始，这只母鸡不下蛋了，每天吃食也不多，而且总是趴在窝里呆着，慢慢地瘦成了皮包骨头。

　　2005年3月27日早上，周家人发现这只鸡死了，而且母鸡的肚子里长了一个“鸡头蛇身”怪物：头上有鸡冠子，躯干部分像蜷缩着的蛇身，有自然形成的蛇尾。该怪物呈蛋黄色，在被取出之前外面裹着一层膜。经测量，该物重0.25公斤，长40厘米，头部直径为5厘米。

A Snake with a Chicken Head

　　A hen raised by Zhou Yuman of Jiapishan Village in Sangou Town of Chengde County, Hebei Province, China has been 2 years old. It was more than 2 kg in weight and laid eggs normally. Since July 2004, the hen has laid no egg and become slowly a bag of bones.

　　In the morning of March 27, 2005, a member of Zhou’s family found that the hen had died. Then they found that there was “a snake with the head of chicken” in its belly——there was a cockscomb on the head, its body looked like a yolky snake with a tail formed naturally. It was wrapped in a thin coating when it was taken from the hen’s belly. The result of survey is that “the snake with the head of chicken” was 0.25 kg in weight, 40 cm in length and its head was 5 cm in diameter.

偷窝偷懒的布谷鸟

　　河北省秦皇岛市是“世界四大观鸟地”之一，被誉为“中国观鸟的麦加”。据观察统计，仅沿海地区就记录了405种鸟。

　　秦皇岛市赤土山大桥防潮闸以内的新河向西延伸而去，200米左右宽的河道内长满了水草、芦苇和香蒲。河道两侧的槐树、杨树、柳树遮天蔽日，密不透风。数不清的鸟儿在林间、苇塘中穿行、翩飞、歌唱。黑水鸡驮着一只小鸟，身后还跟着8只。折下四周的香蒲叶子浮于水面，上面铺一些其它水草，这就是孵小黑水鸡的窝。在仅10平方米的地方就有15个鸟窝，窝内各有4枚蛋。

　　在一种叫厚嘴尾莺的窝中有5枚蛋，4枚蛋是青色的，大小一致，另有一枚大了许多，褐色，带花斑，这是布谷鸟的“杰作”。布谷鸟总喜欢偷懒，总是随便飞进芦苇荡中，偷偷地把蛋下在别的鸟儿的巢中就飞走，并不付任何酬劳地专等别的鸟儿替它孵化。

Lazy Cuckoos

　　Qinhuangdao City of China is one of the 4 famous places to watch birds in the world. It has been reputed as the Chinese Mecca for watching bird. According to observation statistics, there are 405 kinds of birds only in the coastal area of the city.

　　Within the Chitushan Tide Bridge of Qinhuangdao City, the Xinhe River extends westwards. The water grass, reeds and cattails grow all over the river course about 200 m in width. On both sides of the river, there are dense woods of pagoda trees, poplars and willows. Countless birds swim or flutter back and forth, singing in the river or among the forest. Carrying one young bird on its back and leading 8, a black water bird was swimming around their nest. Their nest is built easily: They broke the leaves of cattails and made them to float on water, then laid other water grasses on the leaves of cattails. There were actually 15 nests in a place of 10 ㎡ and 4 eggs in every nest.

　　There were 5 eggs in a warbler’s nest. Among them 4 were the same in size and in blue color, 1 was much larger than the 4 ones. It was in brown color and with colored specks. This was obviously an egg of the cuckoo because the cuckoos are a lazy bird and they like always to fly casually to the reed marshes to lay on the sly their eggs in other birds’ nests. Then, they fly away and wait for other bird to hatch the eggs for them without making any effort.