There are many valleys in Hokkaido, Japan, and there are rivers in the valleys. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoOn the edge of a small river in a valley, there is a big tree. There is a hole in the tree two meters from its roots. In the hollow of the tree, there is a female mandarin duck incubating eggs.

During the winter, the male mandarin duck, which has beautiful wings like a rainbow, also changes to the same olive-colored white feathers as the female.

Mandarin ducks like to swim in the water, and the male swims in the shallow water of the small river, guarding the female who hatches her eggs in the hollow of the tree. Although it is a peaceful, silent valley, it is not to be careless, because crows often come to spy on the situation. Crows steal eggs from nests or snatch away scattered chicks.

There are also minks in the valley, which are more hateful than crows. Steep and steep slopes, mink can fly straight up like arrows, and they can quickly climb to the top of trees. Not only do they have to hurt eggs and chicks, but large birds are also caught and eaten by mink when they sleep at night.

Therefore, although it is comfortable to swim in the water, the eyes of the male mandarin duck are always on the lookout for the situation in the tree hole.

The female also comes out of the hollow of the tree and swims in the water twice a day, and when she burrows into the nest again, her wings are as refreshing as a freshly washed shirt. The eggs are also always wet and shiny.

On the twenty-eighth day of incubation, twelve small mandarin ducks hatched from the twelve eggs, and the chicks were born with small orange wings with black stripes, chirping and chirping, and they were very energetic.

An hour after hatching from the eggs, the chicks begin to move. In the narrow hollow of the tree, twelve chicks crowded around, bumping into each other when they took a step, and squatting on their buttocks when they took a step. After a while, they were completely tired, and they all burrowed under the belly of the female mandarin duck, and fell into a deep sleep until the next morning.

As soon as the little mandarin ducks opened their eyes, they saw golden sunlight shining at the entrance of the tree hole. They climbed up and down on the back of the female mandarin duck and stretched out their twelve little heads to look at the entrance of the cave. However, they really couldn't see the outside world, so they clung to the wall of the tree hole with their paws and crawled out.

Life in the field is so vibrant, they have only hatched for less than two days, and they are busy plunging into the beautiful world of red flowers and green leaves.

In the blink of an eye, their heads poked out of the hole and saw the blue sky and the silver river, a wild instinct that drove them desperately, flapping their tiny wings and tumbling down from the hole in the two-meter-high tree.

The male and female mandarin ducks did not stop them at all, and watched motionless at what their children were doing.

The falling chicks, on the grass, on the fallen leaves, gurgling. They tripped and got caught in small pebbles, grass roots, and tree roots, but immediately jumped up and straightened up again, and none of the twelve little mandarin ducks was injured.

Their parents watched them go through this adventure, and ran over with a gentle cry, pecking this and pecking that, as if to say that only by leaving the tree hole can they truly live the life of a mandarin duck.

Twelve little mandarin ducks followed their parents towards the shallow waters of the river.

All this was watched by the two crows. They originally planned to catch one or two chicks when they came out of the nest, but the parents of the little mandarin ducks were guarded by one at the bottom and the other at the top, so it was difficult for them to start. Now, they decided to take advantage of the fact that the chicks were arguing and lining up like schoolchildren, and the soldiers split up and carried out an attack.

A crow flew down in front of the male duck at the beginning, and another crow sneaked up on a branch. The crow that landed in front of the male mandarin duck opened its mouth wide and "croaked" to put on a challenging posture.

The male mandarin duck was not slacking off at all, he flapped his wings and rushed towards the crow. The crow blinked its black eyes, and instead of responding immediately, it took two steps back.

The male mandarin duck took two more steps forward, but it immediately retreated to its original position in time, and an angry cry came out of its throat.

If the female is also involved in the quarrel, then the crow that quietly stops on the branch and snoops will fly down and snatch one or two chicks. Hens often fall for the crow's tricks and take away their chicks.

But the female mandarin duck did not get involved in the quarrel. When the male mandarin duck rushed forward, it squatted motionless, and at the same time, it let out a low cry of "coo-coo" in its throat.

At this time, the little mandarin duck quickly burrowed under his mother's stomach with incredible fast movements. Twelve little mandarin ducks, all of them got into it in an instant.

In this way, the raven's first ruse failed.

The crow that stopped on the branch immediately croaked angrily, and at once flew down in front of the female mandarin duck, circled around it, and when it saw the hole, it pecked at the female with its hard pointed beak.

If the female is furious and throws down the chicks to fight, another crow will fly over and act as the robber's color, grabbing the fledgling and flying away. However, no matter how much the crow pecked, the female mandarin duck would not pounce on it. It crouched, protecting the twelve chicks beneath it.

Of course, the male mandarin duck immediately flew over and went to war with the crow. The crow that challenged it flew after it and attacked the female mandarin duck with the other crow.

The male had to pounce with two crows at the same time.

The female mandarin duck seems to only be pecked, but in fact, it moves forward little by little with movements that cannot be seen by the eye. It took the twelve little mandarin ducks under it and slowly moved its position.

The male mandarin duck's head was pecked by the large, pointed crow's beak and bleed, but he kept pounceing on this side and that side for a while, circling with the two crows.

The female mandarin duck's face was oozing blood, but she was not discouraged and carried out her plan to move forward little by little.

The two crows soon found out that their ruse was about to fail again, so they pursued and croaked wildly, trying to gather the crows in the vicinity to capture the little mandarin duck. But they are still a little reluctant to let other companions share this delicious meal, so they stop for a while, and strengthen the provocation and pecking of the female mandarin ducks.

The female mandarin duck has amazing wisdom and patience, she bends her neck, puffs up her wings, covers the chicks underneath, and continues to move forward.

Finally, the female mandarin duck came to the bank of the river with her twelve children. It jumped into the clear water, and of course, the twelve little mandarin ducks also fell into the water together.

Then, following their mother's example, they dive into the icy water like fish.

The crow looked at these natural little swimmers and couldn't think of anything about it. They stopped for a moment on the rocks by the river, only to croaked in remorse, gave up, and slowly flew away.

At this time, twelve little mandarin ducks floated to their parents like twelve beautiful leaves.

The female and male mandarin ducks wash their heads and bodies that have been pecked by crows in the cool water of the creek. They seemed to feel comfortable, and after a while, they were like children, diving, floating, diving, surfing, and laughing.

This family was noisy until the night, and it didn't quiet down.

The purple night, deeply wrapped in the sleeping mandarin duck family, twelve chicks, in a circle around the mother, the moon shone on them, like a beautiful necklace around the mother. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support, is my biggest motivation. (To be continued.) )