Weihaiwei, Sept. 16—Rumour had it yesterday that there was an escaped canary in the garden: it was described as "a mule canary with a black head" and it was not only seen, but heard singing. There being no missing canaries hereabouts, I was quickly able to identify the wanderer as a Yellow.breasted Bunting... and previous records show me this is just the time these birds begin to pass through Weihaiwei. They are beautiful little birds: brilliant yellow breast with a chestnut bar: a black cap and mainly chestnut upper parts... but they do not get the autumn incult until they are half-way home to Indo-China and Burma, so when we see them here the upper parts look paler than the full plumage... hence the easy mistake about the "mule canary." The song does not really resemble that of the canary, but it is very sweet and when a whole flock are singing together there is really something worth listening to. These birds breed anywhere in the North and spend at least four months of the year travelling through China between their winter and summer homes: and it is that habit of travelling in large flocks that gets them into trouble; ior down in the South near Canton (which might be likened to the neck of the funnel of their migration routes) they arrive in vast numbers... and John Chinaman is not slow to note this and to put out nets in which untold thousands land... o become "rice birds," potted or tinned, or how do you like them packed? It is-a sad and undignified end for such a handsome songbird. Another curious thing about these birds is this: as they always appear in large numbers in spring from the reed-beds (where they stop to feed) the Chinese five pounds. As the violinist was going out, he noticed that the pawnbroker had placed the in under his chin.
The musical returned. " he said, "can you really play the instrument?"
The pawnbroker shook his head.
"Then," queried the violinist, why do you hold the violin under your chin The pawnbroker pointed with his free hand to the overcrowded shop. "I've got to," he explained. "I have no other room for it!"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.