Weihaiwei, July &—The continued drought brings many strange birds to the seashore and Twas astonished the other day to flush a Bittern feeding in my vegetable garden: this the large bird with the resounding name of Botaurus stellaris stollens one of the few beautiful selentife names at our disposal) and one of the Herons which: normally feed. marshes and rivers on eels, frogs, snails et but which will in ease of need resort to drier [ground where there are grasshoppers and other Insects. "It was hardly 'a compliment to. my vegetable garden to find such a bird feeding there, but it had perhaps been attracted to it by the fact that 1 had Just given ita much-needed splash of water in the cool of the even. ting. One of the peculiarities of the Bittern (and all others of the Heron family) is that they have powder-down patches on the sides of the breast and rump, and the possible uses of such powder has been much discussed by Jornithologists all over the world. It was not, Ju fact, until 1932 that one. Lord William Pere a lecture before the British Ornithologists Club gave anything like a real explanation, According to Lord Perey one of the main Jarticles of diet of the Bittern Cin particular) consists of eels which are slimy. and which consequently sully the birds" plumage: 30 Herons and Bitlerns, being proud of their clean feathers, have through the ages cultivated the powder patches hich they use Cin their bills)
clean away the slime after a day's feoding fon eels. This theory is now generally accepted, nowadays whenever I see a young Indy '8 powder-put to her face 1 feel in= "Hullo, my dear, have you been Weihaiwei, July At is remarkable how many of us use the words "Peking Duck" and visualize only a piece of crisp bro slice of tender meat, served elaborate and original Chinese manner. confess that 1 have. searched in vain through Scientific works to find the correct name for a Peking Duck. 1 have travelled with a deck caro of these ducks and watched with faseinated eyes the ducksherd at his daily task of mixing. food, rolling it into "bullets" the size of a man's finger and. at the appointed hour, pushing the "ammunition" down the. birds throats and gently massaging their necks 10 rive Ht home: and, incidentally, noting. the ducks wagging their tails with satisfaction. instead of writing to the papers about it, as did the early suffragettes. So T have been most interested in reading un article written by Chinese professor on the subject of Peking: Ducks for an Institute of Biology in Peking: but he too overlooks the scientific name and merely says the Chinese call it "Pei-Ya" "White Duck) and that its true origin issu known, though it was mentioned in a scientific [work written in 1697. Domestic fowls such as chickens, ducks (and pheasants too, when Partly domesticated) are apt to eross-breed, and idly be scientifically classified, bui the Dueck seems to have maintained a pure breed. so Tam surprised that it has apparently missed the eye of the classifiers. According 10 the learned professor quoted, the "Pei-ya" has been introduced into both England and America 772-1874) where it is highly. regarded as a market bird: it comes to full' maturity at the age of two years and is capable of reaching, age of 20 years. but—"of course adds the professor slyly, "ihis age thas very seldom been reached by any Peking Duck." And when we remember that tender meat and succulent we must agree that it would stand about as much chance of reaching a ripe old age as the proverbial snowball residing in a place hotter than equatorial Afriea—r.s.w.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.