216 WILD LIFE IN CHINA. 



I shot a weasel once which, lacking chicken or hare, had 

 contented himself with a fine fat frog, and was in the act of 

 making a meal of it. 



Allied to the weasels are otters, also well represented. 

 Many years ago now, there was a family of otters which 

 had made its home at the Public Garden corner of the old 

 Garden Bridge. There, one might, with a stroke of good 

 fortune, come across either pater or mater familias. Once 

 I say one of them cross the footpath into the Public Garden, 

 notwithstanding the fact that there were a considerable 

 number of people in the garden at the time and still more 

 crossing and recrossing the bridge close by. On another 

 occasion I had the very uncommon pleasure of watching the 

 mother and two or three little ones playing about in the 

 water close to the steps which formerly led down the slope 

 there. It is possible that these animals had once been tame, 

 as it is not at all an uncommon thing for the Chinese to tame 

 otters and train them to catch fish. They are said to be 

 extremely interesting pets. Littra sinensis, the Chinese variety, 

 runs to nearly four feet over all, though the average length is 

 less. It ?till finds a home in many of the creeks in the Yangtze 

 delta. Sea-otters are, I believe, found along the China coast. 

 There are plenty of them along the more northern Pacific 

 coasts. 



The seal is another amphibious animal which frequents 

 Pacific waters and visits the China coasts, and I have twice 

 seen whale at sea between Hongkong and Japan. These 

 were probably the grey whale (Rachianectes glaitcus) the 

 only one of its kind. It is found in the North Pacific and 

 nowhere else, except perhaps during migrations. The lesser 

 sperm whale is another Far Eastern species. Of porpoises 

 the name is legion. They come up the rivers at all times, 

 and may be seen in the Huangpu above and below Shanghai, 

 as they may up the Yangtze. The "killer" or grampus is 

 another Pacific cetacean. So is the "black-fish", another 

 genus. A representative of the dolphins, specially known on 

 the China coast, is the White Dolphin, Sotalia Sinensis. 

 This peculiar creature is said to have a ground colour of 

 white, pink fins, and black eyes. It is known bon in the Min 

 and Pearl Rivers, as also in the harbour of Amoy. 



