The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-09-17
CHINESE FAUNA.

The Largest Tigers in the World and
Some OF the Most Beautiful Birds.
There is a general impression about
| Chinese animals, as about the Chinese
people, that they are quaint. ineffectu-
AL and of no particular use except to
| Cinnamon. Whether the Chinese pug
dogs, their hollow backed pigs. or
| dwarfed trees, or the absence of al
most any good books on sport in the
Forbidden empire, have given rise to
| this idea, 1t is a very mistaken one. In
northern Asia the species increase not
| only in numbers but In size the further
! east the region, and in northern China
their numbers are greatest and their
size is most remarkable. Take, for in
stance, the deer The big red stag of
the Caucasus Is surpassed by those of
eastern Siberia; and in the Aitai and
the THAN Shan mountains 1t has be-
come either a giant red deer, or, as Is
now believed, its place is taken by an
AsIatic wapitfS which, ii not quite so
large as the monsters Of the Rocky
mountains, has the largest antlers of
any existing deer. Besides these. roe
buck are common as well as several
species of smaller deer, among them
one resembling the japanese stag now
introduced into our parks Swinhoe's
deer in Formosa, hornless water deer,
and In the hunting park of the emperor
at Picking deer whose native home is
not certainly known, and which was
discovered by Pere David when taking
a peep into the forbidden precinct over
the park wall The largest tigers In
the world are found In Manchuria, and
wild boaE, leopards, tiger cats, while
lynxes, With brown bears in the north
and black bears In the south, make up
a large fauna of sufficient distinction
for Chinese censor to be proud of. In
the Tartar camel the empire owns the
best beast Of burden in the world 1t
produces the best of all ponies and
though the yellow Chinese COW Is small
1t Is good and prolific, very even
cross, as It would seem, between the
bumped cattle Of India and the Bos
taurus Of Europe The distinguished
Chinese naturalist, who described the
Indigenous animals in the Tai-Wan-
Foo Gazetteer notes that Formosan
bears have such thick bristles that ar
rows cannot pierce their bodies, that
they climb trees and sit on the top
cross legged that their bellies contain
much suet and that their paws as deli
cacies, are among the eight pearls"
The venison on the other hand, he con-
siders mot fit to pick up with chop
sticks But that is probably because
the Chinese everywhere kill stays when |
they are out of season, in order to Sc
cure the half grown horns to make O.
youth restoring patent medicine. Bad |
gers, civets and most fur bearing ami
maks abound In the mountains, and OF
tiers on the rivers the last named are /
sometimes trained to fish, or, rather, to |
hunt fish into nets.
IF 1t were asked what Is the most dis
tinctive class In the Chinese fauna, we
should name the pheasants. PheasantS |
are native to the whole of northern
Asia, from the Caucasus to the Pacific;
but nowhere are there so many varle-
ties and nowhere does their decoration
show such brilliant hues or snch rich
fertility Of natural design. There must
be elements in the soil or environment
of China, in both north and south,
which promote brilllance of color, and
very like the ultimate ex-
preston of beauty Of which hues and
allow 1t Is not warmth of
climate only, for some of these brilliant
birds live in the temperate and cold
parts Of the country.
For numbers, and perhaps for varie-
ty, no waterfowl equal those of China.
Fhe air Is simply black with them over
he rivers and marshes near the coast
At flight time. Ornament, even in these