HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
85 
WOULD-BE COLLECTORS, HUNTERS 
AND TRAPPERS. 
Canton, Mrs. Gray, the wife of the Archdeacon 
of Hong Kong, gives a vivid description of one 
of these sacred recitals : — 
"At the festival of Paak-tai, the Chinese 
take their larks, the favourite bird with the 
Chinese and for which the gentry as well as 
poorer people pay large sums if they sing well, 
and suspend the cages from bamboo poles placed 
across the temple about six, feet from the ground. 
They leave their birds from 6 to half past 7 p.m. 
three evenings in succession in this temple to do 
honour to Paak-tai. When' they are brought in, 
the cages are covered with handkerchiefs. On 
these being withdrawn, the birds break out into 
a volume of song, mistaking, one would suppose, 
the glare of the light from a hundred of lamps 
suspended from the roof of the temple for broad 
daylight. Bird sings against bird, trying to 
silence each other until the noise is deafening. 
The Chinese lark 'is a handsome bird, Jarger 
than our English lark, and is capable of being 
taught to imitate various sounds; it flaps its wings 
when it sings and it continues its song for long 
periods. Not only is Paak-tai supposed to be 
honoured by this ovation from the larks, but the 
owners of the birds expect blessings from the 
god for their attention to him. The temple was 
crowded by people of the poorer class who seemed 
to enjoy thoroughly this concert of larks. There 
were some hundreds of these songsters suspended 
in their ornamental cages from the poles." 
Thus do we find unexpectedly in the Far 
East the realization of d'Acussia's conception of 
the part played in the world by his dear birds 
which he compares in his famous treatise on Fal- 
conry to the Angels singing around the throne 
of the Almighty. 
Many foreign cage birds are also imported 
in China, particularly canaries, and some of the 
river boats who do so much traffic by water are 
regular floating bird shops hung all over with 
cages containing many denizens of the feathered 
tribe. 
By John D. Hamlyn. 
During the past twelve months I have been 
inundated with applications from young men in 
every branch of life to learn the Wild Beast 
Business. To begin with, several letters from 
clerks in Town Clerks' offices, doctors, solicitors, 
in fact, there is no profession from which I have 
not received applications for employment. They 
all wish to hunt and capture the elephant, rhino, 
hippo, man-eating gorilla, in fact, they are will- 
ing to capture anything living under the sun. 
It is not the capture or the purchase of Wild 
Beasts that is difficult; it is the boxing, feeding, 
and transport which is the greatest problem in 
this business. Just to give an example; some 
many years ago when collecting in the Congo and 
South West Africa, I was under the impression 
that I had a fair knowledge of the treatment of 
the Gorilla and Chimpanzee. At one time I had 
no less than thirty Chimpanzees and six Gorillas. 
The old Coasters there informed me that such a 
number constituted a record. I quite believe it 
now ! I treated them in my own way which turned 
out a disastrous failure, as I lost, during the 
voyage home, five Gorillas and ten Chimpanzees. 
On a second trip I was more fortunate, having 
gained a considerable amount of experience in the 
treatment of these animals, which only goes to 
> prove that to< be a successful collector and trans- 
porter of animals, you must have served a long 
apprenticeship. Any fool can buy Rhinos, Hip- 
pos and Giraffes in the jungle, but it needs won- 
derfully clever men to> bring them home. 
Take my experience with the last consignment 
from Calcutta. The Indian in charge proved ab- 
solutely incapable and lost 120 Shamahs, 70 My- 
nahsi, with other stock, which would never have 
been lost if in charge of an experienced man. I 
only mention these facts to prove to these would-be 
travellers that it takes years — in fact, a lifetime — 
to learn the peculiarities of the Wild Beast busi- 
ness. 
Another problem is arranging the transport 
of your consignment. My experiences with travel- 
lers — and I have three at the present time — is 
this, that while they are good all-round working 
attendants, they are not capable of overcoming 
the difficulties attached to shipping and trans- 
port. There are innumerable rules and regula- 
tions to be carried out, and the most difficult task 
is to persuade the Captain to accept your varied 
collection as passengers. 
The coasting steamers call at some ports 
only monthly, and it is then that the collector 
must shew wonderful tact in dealing- with the 
Commander. I always dreaded these monthly 
visits, and once when refused a passage with over 
a thousand pounds worth of live stock, packed 
ready for shipment on the beach, my feelings can 
better be imagined than described. They were 
indeed lamentable ! 
Below is a copy of one letter just received. 
The name and address of the writer is withheld, 
but should this meet his eye I trust he will excuse 
its publication. 
