on the Birds of South-Easter n China. 19 



quite to know ; possibly it is in connection with some pre- 

 Cliinese superstition, adopted from the aboriginal inhabitants 

 of the country. The hills on the mainland near Hong Kong 

 run up to more than 3000 feet, but otherwise closely resemble 

 those on the island. 



The New Territory contains some very fine land-lockecl 

 bays, of which Tolo Harbour, the largest, need only be 

 mentioned. 



The chief crop grown here, as elsewhere in Southern China, 

 is rice, known to Europeans in the growing state as paddy. 

 Except in certain fiat portions of the country, to be mentioned 

 presently, paddy is grown in areas of small size, terraced to 

 suit the slope of the ground ; each one of these is surrounded 

 by a little clay or earthen rampart, which separates it from 

 its neighbour, and contains water essential to the growth of 

 the rice-plant. 



These crops aftbrd ample protection to many wading birds 

 in the spring and autumn, and in the summer to certain of 

 the Rails, but they are especially famous at the right season 

 as the haunt of the migrating Snipe. Inland the Snipe 

 specially favour the mulberry-canes in the spring and the 

 paddy in the autumn. 



In some parts of the New Territory a good many sweet- 

 potatoes are grown and in some localities sngar-cane is not 

 uncommon. Although all possible sites are cultivated with 

 tireless industrs', there remains, from the nature of the 

 ground, a very large portion covered with grass, rocks, and 

 scrub. 



Virgin forest exists in a few favoured spots on Hong Kong 

 Island and on the mainland, and is very dense where it does 

 occur. 



About forty miles to the west of Hong Kong lies Macao, 

 the oldest European settlement in China, which has been in 

 the possession of the Portuguese since 1539. Here they 

 are permitted to remain on sufFrance by the Chinese. 



Macao is situated on the seaward end of a peninsula, 

 which juts out into the bay of the same name in the form of 

 a rocky ridge. 



c2 



