A. Hampe—■Singing Birds of the Far East



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cantans), Japanese name “ Uguisu ”, which, is generally trans¬

lated with “ Nightingale It is a small, unobtrusive grey bird of

Tit-like behaviour. Its song is very vigorous and melodious, though

a bit short and monotonous. Nevertheless, it is well worth acquiring.

The hen is exceedingly small. The Japanese White Eye [Zosterops

japonicus) is also often kept in Japan on account of its song which is

very pleasing. Like all White Eyes, it gets very tame. Japanese

name “ Meshiro ”, meaning “ White Eye ”. Both the Loochow Robin

[Erithacus Jcomadori), and the Japanese Robin (Erithacus akahige)

are very desirable birds with good vocal powers, especially so the

Loochow Robin. It is strictly protected and therefore difficult to

procure. The Japanese name of the Loochow Robin is “ Akahige ”,

meaning Red Beard, that of the Japanese Robin “ Komadori ”—

“ Horsebird,” as its song reminds one of the neighing of the horse.

A bird combining fine colour with a good song is the Blue Flycatcher,

which also occurs in China. Japanese name “ O’ruri ”. I will

mention a Chinese bird which is not a Songbird, but belongs to the

Crow tribe. I mean the Occipital Blue Pie. When I first kept this bird,

I was very astonished that such a big bird can sing so sweetly. And it

also learns to talk. A young bird which I had given to the small Zoo

in Shanghai surprised me one day with the words “ Come on Tommy ”,

pronounced with a very clear voice. He had learned this small sentence

from a lady who visited him regularly. This is a very fine bird for an

aviary and his near cousin from Formosa ( Urocissa casrulea), is even

more showy. We see that the East presents us with a lot of good

singers. There are certainly a good many more in far off Szetchuan

and Yunnan which have never come to Europe. I think especially

of the very fine Grandala coelicolor.


Indeed, the man who created the often used saying : “ The birds

of the Far East have no song and the flowers no fragrance,” certainly

never listened to the song of the Huamee nor smelled the fragrance of

the “ Lammay ” (Chinese flowering shrub blossoming in December

and January).



