xiv WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



Armand David does not claim to be that, although it gives 

 detailed information respecting some eight hundred species of 

 birds alone. Such a work is not within the power of any one 

 man to perform, without the aid of countless observers each 

 dealing with some circumscribed area. For as all students 

 of bird life know, there is still much to learn, many are the 

 doubts to be cleared up, and not a few mistaken preconcep- 

 tions have yet to be removed before Chinese natural history 

 can be an exact science. What personal experience has 

 suggested to me and my friends during a third of a century 

 will be jotted down in due course, Nature herself throughout 

 the "revolving year" being her own prompter as to the order 

 in which the various divisions of the subject shall be taken. 

 Classical severity of language, which must be the medium 

 through which exact ornithology expresses itself, will be 

 used as sparingly as possible. Menila Sinensis will sing 

 none the less sweetly during these beautiful spring mornings 

 if he is made to appear in his plain English dress of 

 "Blackbird." But as we are a many-tongued people in the 

 Far East just now, it will be advisable in most cases to 

 supply in brackets, (I promise faithfully that it shall be in 

 brackets), the technical names recognized by ornithologists 

 everywhere. Otherwise it may happen that mistakes will 

 occur, as for example, when such a misused name as "Crow"' 

 is employed. What does "Crow" stand for? Is it the French 

 GroIIe, or Corbeille ? Is it the Chinese \Vti ya, or the Chin- 

 ese Lao ya ? It is impossible to say, for there seems to 

 be as much confusion in the Chinese and French as there is in 

 English. ButonceletthetechnicalCon'//s corone be given, and 

 all doubt is dispelled. The identity is certain. It is the crow 

 we mean, that solitary, rather misanthropic bird, not the rook, 

 which is Corvitsfnigilegus, a bird fond of the company of his 

 fellows, and, as is unpleasantly evident in some parts of the 

 Shanghai Settlement, not less so of that of man. Except, 

 then, for purposes such as this, long-legged Latin terms will 

 be carefully eschewed. The Chinese name of a thrush-like 

 singing bird, Hwa-mei, is many times softer and prettier 

 than Leucodioptron Sinense. Besides this, we are sure 

 to find, as we proceed, that descriptions of one or two well- 

 known species will suffice for the representation of large 

 families less familiar, and so avoidance of dull detail will 

 be all the more easy. 



Mention has been made of Pere David's great work. 

 Others deserve like honour. Consul Swinhoe ranks high 

 amongst these. Some forty years ago he was perhaps the 

 greatest authority on Chinese Natural History. "The Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society of London" will be found 

 to contain several contributions of the greatest importance 



