i 54 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly May- 



China robins (Copsychus saularis) are snarling at each other, 

 the hen meanwhile calmly hopping on the sward at the 

 edge of the trees, picking up food, and in her movements 

 and carriage reminding one at once of the redbreast at 

 home. They are one of the commonest birds here, typi- 

 cally Eastern, whilst its multiplicity of popular names shows 

 how well it is known to foreigners in China — Peking robin, 

 Dayal-bird, Magpie robin in allusion to its plumage, and 

 by the Portuguese the Dominico. It is much kept by the 

 natives as a cage-bird, and has the same cock of the tail 

 and sideways head movements, besides the pugnacity, of 

 the English robin. It sings well too. From a thick bush 

 comes a sound of some birds quarrelling and fighting for 

 all they are worth, like the jabbering of sampan-women : it 

 is only the jay-thrushes (Dryonastes perspicillatus) amusing 

 themselves as they play a sort of follow-my-leader through 

 the trees. Little flocks of white-eyes (Zosterops simplex) go 

 through the bushes like titmice, while all the time the bul- 

 buls keep up a chattering overhead. There are three species 

 here, two of them noisy and ubiquitous, one of which has 

 the only bright colour about it on the under tail coverts, 

 which are vermilion and show up conspicuously. 



The loud cries and strange behaviour of three or four 

 Schach shrikes attract our attention, and on examining the 

 bush where they are demonstrating, we find a rather large 

 snake in the top of it, the shrikes taking no notice of us, 

 but flying within a few inches of the snake's head. A clod 

 of earth dislodges the snake, and the birds follow him off. 

 This shrike (Lanius schach) is a very irritating bird, which 

 usually selects a high spray or stake or other commanding 

 position, whereon he sits bolt upright, and when one is 

 stalking some particular bird he at once sounds the alarm 

 in a harsh voice, but does not offer to move from his post, 

 thus adding insult to injury. Though only about 10 inches 

 long, he is a courageous bird, and, if wounded, will bite and 

 scratch to the finish. He sings very sweetly too sometimes, 

 with, however, intermittent harsh notes. On a stilingia-tree 

 and the seedlings beneath we find a colony of larvae of the 

 large Atlas moth {Attacus atlas), regarded as a great rarity 

 by most people here. Certainly the imago is not often seen 



