SO.MI- SHANCHAI SINC.INC; IWIJOS. 31 



Miiiuhinini as j^liittonous? He is intcrestinjj; to watch e\cn 

 when eatin}4 so lonj^ as the\' are in^t our own stravvherries 

 that are disappearing. I{\en then some people are generous 

 enough to watch and be content. Listen to Tennyson: — 



O Rlackbird ! sinj« mc something well: 



Whilst all the neighbours shoot these roLiiul. 



1 iieep smooth plats of t'fuitful Jiround, 

 Where thou inay'st warble and dwell. 

 The espaliers and the standards, all 



Are thine : the ranj^e of lawn and parU, 



The Linnetted blacU-hearts ripen darU. 

 All thine, aj^ainst the garden wall. 



And then the poet goes on to tell of liis reward. There 

 is the golden bill to watcii. the silver tongue to hear. Yes, 

 e\en in February. So it is here. Watch a blackbird on the 

 lawn. What a picture he is. iMuch of his daintiness is due 

 to his immaculate form. But his pure black, glossy and 

 smooth, is such a setting as never was for the gold of his bill. 

 In the early morning, just as the first streaks of dawn lighten 

 the east he is awake and then song is his first thought. I sup- 

 pose Madame Merula delights in it. It is certainly for her 

 benefit that its otitpourings are so full anei rich. X'aried. too, 

 ai'e the\- : more so than is the case in England. With bed- 

 room windows wide open, it is one of the pleastn-es of 

 Shanghai life to lie and listen. 



White blackbirds, that is to say, albinos, are not un- 

 common, and the hen bird here is sometimes so brown as to 

 suggest that crosses between Meni/a Maiidarina and Meni/a 

 Goiihii may have occurred once upon a time, though the 

 latter, a fine chocolate and golden brown bird is now found 

 more to the west of us. Space forbids to tell of the black- 

 bird's audacit\', though man>- instances might be given. How 

 it nests, too, is another stoi-\-, for thei'e are one or two other 

 songsters yet to be named. 



The Hicaiiici, or the bird of the "Flowery Eyebrows," 

 in Chinese, is classically known as Tiirdtis Sinensis or as 

 Leucodiofytron Sinense. The only place w here I have actually 

 come across them familiarly is at the Hills. There, especi- 

 ally on one particular hill, I have heard them repeatedlx-. 

 Once I saw a pair in a garden in the very centi'e of the 

 Settlement. Personally there is something in the music of 

 Hwamei which detracts from perfect enjoyment of it. btit it 

 cannot be denied that the song is at once powei'ful and varied. 

 It is also in parts very sweet. The Chinese are very fond 

 of it as a cage bird, as they are also of the lark. They may 

 be seen at the proper season with the rival birds in cages 

 placed near, but out of sight of each other, a cloth covering 

 being used for this purpose. Ri\'alr\- then ensui-es the \er>- 

 best the bii'ds are capable of, their masters standing by and 



