i2S WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



THE GROUND AND FLYING VERMIN. 



The gamekeepers' black list would be a long one out here — ground vermin swarming 

 in most parts of the country. The fox and otters are the same as their English cousins; 

 the badger {Meles leptorhynchiis) is very similar. The racoon-dog {Nyctereutes procyonoides) is 

 strangely like a badger in colour and marking, but is built like a small dog, with stout 

 body, slender limbs, short, very pointed muzzle and thick bushy fur. It is common to both 

 China and Japan but is unknown elsewhere. These animals live in burrows and sometimes 

 form a large colony. 



There is only one true wild-cat with us {.Felis bengalensis), in size equal to a large 

 domestic cat but very slim in the body. Ground colour, sandy-grey spotted with sandy- 

 brown, several bands on the chest and foreneck nearly black. Of civets there are several, 

 the commonest in the flat country being the little spotted civet {Viverra malaccensis), a sandy- 

 brown, with rows of deeper brown spots on the upper parts, leg dark brown, tail pointed 

 and banded brown and grey. A much larger grey and black civet with long thick banded 

 tail {Viverra zihetha) is found in hilly country. Among the hills, too, are tree-civets, martens, 

 mongoose (Herpestes urva) and the pangolins or scaly ant-eater {Mam's aurita). Only one 

 kind of stoat or weasel occurs, but it is plentiful enough to do a great deal of damage ; the 

 Siberian weasel {Mustela sibirica), a bright yellow-brown animal with a black muzzle. 

 Hedgehogs and several kinds of squirrels are abundant, but there are no water-rats and 

 field-rats, and mice seem to be scarce. On the Yangtze wolves are found, but are not come 

 across frequently, and leopards exist in the mountain ranges; the presence of tigers is 

 doubtful on the river, but further south among the Chekiang and Fuhkien hills they abound. 

 They may live on some of the ranges near the river, but I have never seen it proved, and 

 native reports on the subject are unreliable as they almost invariably speak of leopards as 

 tigers. On the Lushan hills near Kiukiang, where there are many leopards, I am convinced 

 that tigers do not exist. I should like to correct one very prevalent error — namely, the idea 

 that cheetahs are found in this country : the animals that have been taken for them are 

 leopards, probably young ones. 



The birds of prey are too numerous to deal with individually : lo species of owls and 

 nearly 30 of hawks, falcons, buzzards and eagles, all either residing with us or paying 

 annual visits. The destruction of game must be considerable, but in the nesting season and 

 throughout the summer and autumn the ground cover in almost all parts of the country is so 

 thick and plentiful that birds can find shelter at a moment's notice. For my own part I do 

 not grudge them a few pheasants and hares, and the wild-fowl which are the commoner 

 visitors can well be spared out of the myriads that visit us. The kites soaring over the 

 river, the harriers sailing up and down the marshes, the peregrines screaming on the cliffs 

 and the little hawks skimming about the copses are all features of the landscape which we 

 should miss with regret. Our common kite, by the way, is the black-eared kite (Melvus 

 melanctis) and not the Brahminy kite {Haliastur i?tdus), often corrupted into Bromley kite for 

 some reason unknown. The latter is an Indian and Straits bird which only visits us in 

 summer, and then only in small numbers ; it is quite unlike our black-eared kite, being 

 bright reddish-brown in colour with a white head, and having the tail rounded — not forked. 



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