XVI WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



overhead just as it does in Kent or Sussex. I am very 

 much pleased to know this. My acquaintance with the sea- 

 wall has, unfortunately, always been during the winter. 

 The fact that the lark sings within so short a distance of 

 Shanghai, and not at Shanghai, is another instance of a 

 curious difference which I have noted in the bird life of 

 closely contiguous districts in Kiangsu. 



Of native sportsmenand true naturalists combined I have 

 known two. One is dead. Neither of them ever wrote anything 

 of his intimate bird knowledge either in Chinese or English, 

 but both were sufficiently practical to be able to preserve such 

 specimens of their prowess as they cared to keep. Of the 

 market-supplying variety of "sporting" man I have met several, 

 of whom more anon. 



It is surprising how few people have eyes for the wonder- 

 ful variety of wild life which boon Nature has showered upon 

 China. If this be partly due to the forbidding nature of 

 the scientific works on natural history there is no reason 

 why it should continue, for with all the modern appliances 

 for printing in colours, with a far more rational system of 

 education which looks to Nature herself for inspiration, and 

 with cheapened means of production, there is now so great 

 a number of natural history productions that the difficulty 

 is to know what to choose. And though, of course, there 

 are many birds in this part of the world differing from those 

 in western lands, yet there are still more which are either 

 exactly alike or closely allied. The rook, the magpie, the 

 sparrow, many of the finches, the thrushes, the water-fowl,, 

 the gamebirds and others are so nearly like those of Europe 

 as to be indistinguishable except by an expert. The possess- 

 ion of a book of European birds would therefore be very 

 useful to the bird seeker of China. In the sketches which 

 follow it is hoped that though no complete system be attempt- 

 ed there will be information enough to stimulate that love for 

 wild life which is a thousand-fold its own reward. 



