12 NATURK .STUDY. 



Chinese Birds. 



As more than ycxj kinds of birds are known in China, all that can 

 be attempted in a short article is to mention a few of them. 



Perhaps most widely famed are the splendid gold and silver 

 pheasants, and the Reeves pheasant with its long tail feathers 

 sometimes measuring as much as seven feet. Many other less well" 

 known varieties, however, dispute the palm for good looks ; for in- 

 stance, the snow pheasant with a body white as its name, set off by 

 a jet black tail ; the Amherst pheasant which has all its brilliant 

 green feathers neatly bordered in black, and the scarlet necked 

 white Pallas pheasant, called " ho-ki " or " fire hen." 



The Chinese are extravagantly fond of birds and carry their 

 caged favorites out to walk with them as commonly as we take our 

 dogs. As pets, the lark and the thrush are rivals. The former is 

 a sweet, untiring singer, the latter has greater aptitude for learning 

 tricks, although the "spectacle thrush," with its black-circled 

 eyes, looks so grave and wise that one feels surprised to see it per- 

 form all sorts of antics. One of its cousins, no less clever, and far 

 prettier, has eyes only partially framed by a sombre velvet line and 

 is known as " hwa-mi " or " painted eyebrows." Also popular as 

 a household bird, more particularly in the southern provinces, is 

 the magpie or " joyous one." 



The most widely dispersed bird is the crow. In Pekin these are 

 especially numerous, and toward evening one sometimes sees in 

 midair thousands of young birds diverting themselves. That is a 

 pretty picture, yet crows are — ^barring falcons — the most ill-behaved 

 of all the feathered denizens of Pekin. They steal one another's 

 nests, dance and fight in the gutters, jab at any one who interferes 

 with them, and behave generally with a levity and indiscretion be- 

 lying their solemn appearance. As to the falcons, of which great 

 numbers live in the gate towers of the old city wall, they make 

 raids upon the markets and street stalls, snatching at whatever 

 they fancy, and, if foiled in an attempt, giving vent to ear-splitting 

 screams. Their sins are forgiven, however, on account of their 

 constituting the city's entire and only street cleaning department. 

 Crows, too, are respected, as examples of the virtue most highly 

 honored by Chinese, i. e., filial piety — as the young are said to feed 

 their parents when disabled. 



Other prominent aerial residents of China's capital are the swal- 

 lows — so numerous as to have given their name to that part of the 



