Anriua os C. Sowetay From time to time strange ant-vals turn up in Skanghal, and Fusing. thais, ways. into. the cal newspapers create sensation in DO-Postion to. their. strangeness.
Tigator that was fished out of the Dre season Tt was sie foot ale Whangpoo, on another a four hundred pound' Togget-bead turtle. Jet another. ie was 8 porpoise. that Waa brought to shore by a fisher-Ian looking for a few dimes to compensate him for his broken nets. We have recollections of a rogalar frore that was set up by the aleg-Sdvappenrance of an ancy of seffents that. was invading the bund. Raver these turned out to be unless cela which the Chinese ha thrown by the bucketful into the Whangpoo long with live 4vogs and tereapins to acquire merit. This. revelation it was said greatly annoyed the reporter who originally made the discovery of the invading hast, who was perfectly certain he had seen snakes, Another false alarm was when some logs or other flotsam coming down from the—Nantao direction were mistaken for seals, the local naturalist was called. out in great haste to identity the monsters, Quite a sensation was onused last year amongst Chinese circles by the purchase by a wealthy gentleman of note of a two headed turtle, Like Quilis pon the Pretfat to Mr. A. so large and ungainly an animal as a porcupine The common porcupine is well known in China south of the Yangtze, being very common in the Soochow and Chinkiang hills, where many specimens have been shot by Shanghai sportsmen out after wil boar and other game, Last Easter the Shanghai hounds enjoyed a very exciting hunt after a large porcupine hills, finally running it down and making 'a kill. The hunt lasted the best part of an hour and covered a considerable stretch of country, is some indication of the speed and endurance of this usigainly looking animal.
Please Collect One Porcupine A Confirmed Vegetarian Pangolins, palm-civets, blue sheep, giant salamanders and mons ter carp have each had their day, Dut of all these animals none,, perhaps, are quite so peculiar, or, we night say, rare as the latest ' arvival in Shanghai, This is a brush-tailed porcupine, which has come fil the way from the Upper Yangtze region, probably from Szechuan. Our office received message one day from the Yangtze Rapid Steamship Company offices thai to the effect "Will Mr.
please collect one poi supine." The porcupine was duly collected and is now comfortably ensconced ina cage in our garde but to this day we have been unable to find out to whom we are indebted for the gift, It was brought down by the Captain of one of the steam cers belonging to the company men-toned, and that la al} we know about its origin. It must have come from Szechuan or very close to the borders of that province, for that region and south-westward into According to the natural history books the food of the porcupine consists of roots, bulbs, the stems and leaves of plants and such fruit as the animal can get hold of. Our specimen we find is particularly fond of sweet potatoes, Indian corn, milk and boiled rice, but will eat almost anything in the and fruit. Tt is and very fast on its feet.
In the short tinie it has been in our possession it has become very tame: teo tame for comfort, considering its When con-ug strange or suspicious it emits a sort of grunt and thumps the grounds with its hind feet after the manner of the rabbit. Unless disturbed it sleeps all day in its nest of straw and ramps round its cage all night.
In colour it is a sort of dark grey, some of the spines being Danded white, while the belly is a dirty yellow. ' Its. eyesight appears to be very ped, and it always finds its food by smell Indo-China and the Malay region appear to form the habitat of the Asiatic brush-tailed porcupines. We tall it a rare animal advisedly, for The common porcupine, wi ich known generically as Hystriz, extends from South-eastern China
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.