SOME SHANGHAI SINGING BIRDS. 31 



Mandanna as gluttonous? He is interesting to watch even 

 when eating — so long as they are not our own strawberries 

 that are disappearing. Even then some people are generous 

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



O Blackbird! sing me something well: 



Whilst all the neighbours shoot these round. 



I keep smooth plats of fruitful ground, 

 Where thou may'st warble and dwell. 

 The espaliers and the standards, all 



Are thine : the range of lawn and park, 



The unnetted black-hearts ripen dark. 

 All thine, against the garden wall. 



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

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

 even in February. So it is here. Watch a blackbird on the 

 lawn. What a picture he is. Much 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 outpourings are so full and rich. Varied, too, 

 are they: more so than is the case in England. With bed- 

 room windows wide open, it is one of the pleasures 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 Merula Mandarina and Menda 

 Gouldi 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 audacity, though many instances might be given. How 

 it nests, too, is another story, for there are one or two other 

 songsters yet to be named. 



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

 in Chinese, is classically known as Tardus Sinensis or as 

 Leucodioptron Sinense. The only place where I have actually 

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

 ally on one particular hill, I have heard them repeatedly. 

 Once I saw a pair in a garden in the very centre of the 

 Settlement. Personally there is something in the music of 

 Hwamei which detracts from perfect enjoyment of it, but it 

 cannot be denied that the song is at once powerful 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. Rivalry then ensures the very 

 best the birds are capable of, their masters standing by and 



