Sydney Porter—Wanderings in the Far East



75



Most of the birds are covered up whilst the owner is taking them

out, until some suitable place is found and the cage is then uncovered.

All the birds which I saw in private ownership were in good condition,

especially the Larks which formed about 80 per cent of the cage birds

in that part of the world. They were in perfect feather and very tame ;

they seemed to have a knowing look and to understand all that was

going on around them. The cages of these birds were also very clean.

I saw several Crested Larks (Galerida cristata) in Chefoo, these also

appeared to be very tame and totally different from the frantically

fluttering Larks which one used to see in this country.


Ruby-throats were also common cage birds, and I saw several

kept by, what seemed to me, the rather cruel method of having the

bird attached to the perch by a string fastened round the neck; in

spite of this, however, the birds appeared to be in perfect condition,

and the brilliant ruby bib is a good indication of the condition of the

bird. On a week or two's bad food this ruby colour quickly fades,

in some cases to a pale yellow.


There were also several of the large Masked Hawfinches tied by

the neck, and these always seemed to be in a state of nervous appre¬

hension. In Chefoo, Siskins were also a very common cage bird, and

one saw a great many of them in tiny cages hanging outside the native

shops.


Tsintao, perhaps the cleanest and best planned of the North China

coast towns, possessed a single street of bird shops, but what bird

shops they are ! It would break the heart of any real bird lover to

walk up that short hilly street and inspect the filthy dens which con¬

stitute Tsintao’s ornithological emporiums. None of the cages had

apparently been cleaned out since the shops were opened. One sees

hundreds of birds dying through sheer starvation, Siskins, Crossbills,

Rosefinches, etc., simply begging for food as they make a last desperate

effort before dying. In tiny cages and boxes in dark corners, often

the boxes are so nailed up that one cannot see what is in them, one

finds all manner of wretched victims. There are monkeys nailed up

in boxes which one would think were their coffins, as indeed, alas ! no

doubt they are.


In one store a Chinese woman was sitting on a box-like stool which



