BIRDS.
By Staff-Surgeon Kenneth H. Jones, R.N., Naval Hospital, Hongkong.
The Birds of Hongkong may broadly be divided into those which are resident, and remain for the whole year round, and those which come to the Colony for only a part of the year. These distinctions, however, are not absolute, for some species are partly resident and partly not. All the resident birds breed in the Colony.
There are at least five species of Thrushes commonly to be met with in Hongkong, belonging to four different genera. Of these, perhaps, the best known is a brown bird with a white stripe over the eye, which is very popular with the Chinese as a cage bird. This bird (Trochalopteron canorum) is about the only really good songster to be found here, and its very thrush-like song is to be heard in almost every month of the year in the woods and far up the hillsides. The bird is resident in Hongkong Island, where it breeds, raising two broods in a year—the first in May and the second in July and August. This species is not found at Kowloon, nor, so far as I know, in the New Territory generally.
Another thrush which is sure to attract attention is the Blue Whistling Thrush (Myophoneus cæruleus), a large bird of very deep indigo colour flecked with lighter blue, often to be seen along Bowen Road and at Wongneichung, as well as elsewhere. This species has a great partiality for water, and is never found far from the streams which descend the little valleys to the sea all over the island. This bird has a very characteristic way of opening its tail, fanwise with a sudden jerk, when alighting. Like the last species, it is resident, breeding in May, and making its nest in positions, usually inaccessible, among the piles of boulders which are strewn along the water courses. The note is a low plaintive whistle, monotonous and piercing; but in the breeding season a little song is attempted, which cannot be called beautiful, but is, rather, mournful.
There are two other blue thrushes in Hongkong, the Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola cyanus), and the Red-breasted Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius). Both are winter visitors to the Colony, arriving in October and leaving again in May. They are easily distinguished from Myophoneus cæruleus by their smaller size and brighter colour, and from one another by the presence or absence of red on the breast, as the description of the second-named indicates.
There remain two Babbling Thrushes—one a resident and the other a summer visitor. The former, the Black-cheeked Babbling Thrush (Dryonastes perspeculatus), is a very noisy bird, and the parties of half a dozen, or more, in which this species is always to be found, advertise their presence continually by their shrill and not particulary melodious whistles. This bird breeds here, and raises in all probability two broods in a year. The other Babbling Thrush is a favourite with the bird shopkeepers, who call it San-mo, whilst to the Europeans it is known as a Mocking Bird or as the Canton Nightingale. This species is a large blackish bird, with conspicuous white patches below the ears, and its notes, though few and apt to be monotonous at close quarters, are flute-like and full, and sound, in the woods, exceedingly well. The bird undoubtedly breeds in the woods above and below Bowen Road, but so wary is it that but for its characteristic song its presence there would probably never be suspected.
Leaving the thrushes, the next group of birds for consideration are the Warblers, and with them may be noticed the majority of other very small birds. The two best-known of all the smaller birds here are the Silver Eye (Zosterops simplex), a little bright green bird with a ring of white feathers round the eye; and the Tailor Bird (Sutoria sutoria), a small brown bird with a chestnut-coloured head and rather a long tail. Both these birds are resident, and the former is a common cage bird. The note of the Tailor Bird is a loud "chink-chink," constantly repeated, and of remarkable volume for the size of the bird.
Another small bird which is likely to attract attention by reason of its brilliant colouring and its loud voice is the Scarlet-backed Flower-pecker (Dicæum cruentatum), a black bird of very small dimensions, with a most brilliant red back and head.
Of the true warblers only one is common, and that as a winter visitor, the Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides), a small green bird, with a yellow stripe over the eye. This is the first of the winter visitors to arrive, appearing as early as the middle of September, and leaving again in April and May.
There is only one Tit here, the Indian Grey Titmouse (Parus cinercus), a conspicuously marked bird, which bears a certain superficial resemblance to the Great Tit so well known in England. The bird is resident, and rears two broods in the year, commencing to breed as early as the first half of March.
Another common small bird is Munia topela, a near ally of the Java Sparrow (Munia orizvora), than which it is, however, much smaller and much less gaily coloured, being uniformly brown, with a dark brown head and black bill. This bird is not, as a rule, to be seen in the winter months, but it remains to breed, laying four, or more, white eggs, in a curious covered-in nest with a hole in the side; and, like so many others here, it is probably double-brooded.
One of the most conspicuous and best known of the smaller birds in Hongkong is the Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis). The striking mixture of black and white in its plumage, and its tameness and partiality for human neighbourhood call attention to it at once. This bird has, after Trochalopterou canorum noticed above, the best song of any of the native birds. It is resident, and breeds commonly from April to August, making a scanty nest in a hole in a tree or building.
Equally common, and almost as conspicuous, as the last are the Bulbuls, of which three species occur in Hongkong, all of them plentifully. The three species are the Black-headed Bulbul, the Red-cheeked Bulbul, and the While-eared Bulbul (Pycnonotus atricapillus, Otocompsa emeria, and Hypsietes sinensis). These three birds are all commonly to be met with in gardens and about the roadsides of the Colony, and they are differentiated from one another without difficulty. The first is a brownish-coloured bird, with a black head and a short crest, whilst the feathers of the vent are bright scarlet. The second also has the bright scarlet feathers round the vent, but it has on its head a long black crest, whilst its throat and breast are white, and on the cheeks are, as the name indicates small red patches. The third is a smaller bird than either of the other two, is generally greener in colour, and has no crest of any kind, but has two large white patches over the ears which unite to form a collar behind. Of these three birds the Black-headed Bulbul is the wildest, and is found breeding high up on the hillsides in places where the others are rarely, if ever, seen. The nests of the latter are usually placed on the lower ranges of hills, in gardens and hedges, and such-like places. The Black-headed Bulbul has a shrill and not unpleasing note. It can hardly be said to sing, but both the other species have a little song, consisting of very few notes, and becoming desperately monotonous from its too frequent repetition.
There is only one Cuckoo which is at all common in Hongkong, the well-known Rain Bird (Cacomantis merulinus), whose familiar whistle is one of the most frequent and mournful of bird sounds during the summer months by night as well as by day. This bird arrives in March and leaves again in September, and, like most cuckoos, lays its eggs in the nests of another species. In this case the host is always Sutoria sutoria, the Tailor Bird. The Tailor Bird, as is well known, makes its nest by stitching together, with thread manufactured by itself, the free margins of a large leaf, or by approximating two big leaves in such a way as to make a kind of bag, and in this its little nest of fine grass, with a vegetable down lining, is placed. The Rain Bird, from its size, could not possibly lay its eggs in the nest of the Tailor Bird, so that probably they are laid on the ground and then carried in the bird's bill to their resting-place. Contrary to what obtains with most of the cuckoos, the eggs of the Rain Bird bear considerable resemblance in colour to those of the Tailor Bird, though they are, of course, much larger.
Only one species of Dove is met with in Hongkong, the Turtur chinensis, which is extremely numerous all over the Colony, and very tame, settling in public places and running about the roads with the utmost confidence. This dove is a resident, and lays its eggs almost throughout the whole year.
Of birds of prey there is some variety, but only one species, the Black-eared Kite, is to be seen the whole year round. This bird (Milvus metanotis) is the large brown hawk to be seen flying over the harbour in search of scraps of garbage, and is too well known to require any description. The numbers of kites are much increased in the winter
