Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1900-12-20
QUEER CHINESE ANIMALS.
They Have the Largest Tigers and
Most Beautiful Birds I'm the
whole World

There is a general impression about
Chinese animals, as about Chinese
people, that they are quaint. ineffec-
tual and of no particular use except
to Cinnamon. Whether the Chinese
pug dogs. their hollow-backed pigs
or dwarfed trees. or the absence of
almost any good books on sport in
the forbidden empire have given
rise to this idea, it is a very mistaken
one, says the london Spectator. In
northern Asia the species increase
not only in numbers but in size the
farther east the region, and in north
ern China their numbers are greatest
and their size is almost remarkable
Take. for instance, the deer. The big
red stag of the Caucasus is surpassed
bv those of eastern Siberia, and in
the Altai and the Thian-Shan noun
fains it has become either a giant
deer, or, as is now believed, its place
is taken by an Asiatic wapiti, which,
If not quite so large as the monsters
of the Rocky mountains. has the
largest antlers OF any existing deer.
Besides these, roebuck are common,
as we'll as several species of smaller
deer, among them one resembling the
japanese stag now introduced into
our parks; Swinhoe's deer in For
mosa. horn1ess water deer, and in the
hunting park of the emperor at Pc
king a deer who's native home is not
certainly known, and which was dis
covered by Pere David when taking
a peep into the forbidden precinct
over the park wall. The largest
tigers in the world are found in Man.
churia. and wild boars, leopards, tiger
cats, while lynxes, with brown bears
in the north and black bears in the
south, make up a large fauna of sufff-
Gent distinction for a Chinese censor
to be proud of. In the Tartar camel
the empire owns the best beast of
burden in the world; it produces the
best of all ponies, and, though the
yellow Chinese COW is small, it is good
and prolific, a very even cross, as it
would seem, between the bumped cat
tie of India and the bos taurus of
Europe.
The distinguished Chinese natural
ist, who described the indigenous ami
mails in the Tai-Wan-Foo Gazetteer,
notes that Formosian bears have such
thick bristles that arrows 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 d~elicacies, are
'among the eight pearls" The ven
ison, on the other hand, he considers
mot fit to pick up with chopsticks."
But that is probably because the Chi
nese everywhere kill stays when they
are out of season in order to secure
the ha1f-grown horns to make a
youth-restoring patent medicine.
Badgers, ciyets and most small fur
bearing animals abound in the noun
fains. and offers in the rivers; the
last-named are sometimes trained to
fish, or, rather, to hunt fish into nets.
If it were asked what is the most
distinctive class in the Chinese fauna
we should name the pheasants. Pleas
ants are native to the whole of north
ern Asia, from the Caucasus to the
Pacific, but nowhere are there so
many varieties, and nowhere does
their decoration show such brilliant
hues or such rich fertility of natural
design. There must be elements in
the soil or environment of China, in
both north and south, which promote
ordnance OF COlOE anu SOI1ctHluS Wei
like the ultimate expression of beauty
of which hues and contrasts allow.
1T is not warmth of climate only, for
some of these brilliant birds live ir
the temperate and cold parts of the
country.
For numbers, and, perhaps, for va
riety, no water fow equal those of
China. The air is simply black with
them over the rivers and marshes
near the coast at fight time. Orna-
ment, even in these ornamental birds,
is carried to the extreme in some of
the Chinese varieties. The mandarin
teal is the gayest as well as the most
fancifu1ly plumed of all ducks. Nor
are the fish of the fowery land in any
way behind the birds in gorgeous and
striking colors. The Chinese are per-
fectly aware of the artistic rarity and
value of all these creatures. They use
them and the ideas they suggest to
the best advantage, and hat is why
Chinese gardens are far the most
beautiful in the world. They are
landscape gardeners by birth and ira
dition. Consequently their pleasure
grounds are broken by lakes, pools,
clumps of trees and wildernesses of
just the right size and setting. But
to these they give color. first by bor-
rowing hints from the plumage of the
birds, and covering their garden
houses with crimson, blue, scarlet and
gold; and, secondly, by filling their
fountains with brilliant-co1ored fish
and covering their pools with beauti-
full water birds. Goldfish were orig
inally brought from China, and until
quite recent times were called China
fish. But a far more beautiful Great
ure is the paradise fish, which is kept
as a garden and domestic decoration.
Its body is striped with scarlet and
gold and it's fins are like long. waving
flags of the same brilliant hues.
D--.Ho~NT ]