The Barking Deer or Muntjac, although fairly plentiful in many wooded districts, is rarely seen in the day-time. It may occasionally be seen at night, however, especially when caught in the headlights of a car. On account of its shyness and noctural habits this small deer may seem to be less common than is actually the case; the Peak district on the island is still to be included amongst its haunts. Wild Boar inhabit certain wooded districts on the mainland, notably the Sai Kung, Sha Tau Kok, Pat Sin Range and Tai Po areas. It is of interest that the average number of young in a brood appears to be only four in this Colony.
Monkeys have been seen in at least three different places during the years 1948 and 1949-at Tai Tam Tuk on the island and at the Kowloon and Jubilee Reservoirs on the mainland. Whether these were specimens of the indigenous and now locally very rare or extinct Rhesus Monkey, it is impossible to say.
An animal of particular interest is the Scaly Anteater or Pangolin which feeds to a great extent on termites. Although on record as occurring both
as occurring both on the mainland and Hong Kong Island, it seems at least to be rare now.
Porcupines are to be found on Hong Kong Island and on the mainland being our largest rodent and liable on occasion to damage crops and trees. Next in size among the rodents is the Smaller Bandicoot Rat, first known from Nepal and discovered here in 1946 on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories. This is a large ground-living rat which does not enter houses. The two common domestic rodent pests are the cosmopolitan Common or Brown Rat and the Buff-breasted Rat, a small brown South Chinese race of the well-known Black or Ship Rat. House mice are not numerous but seem to be replaced to a limited extent by the House Shrew, the latter an insectivore a little smaller than a rat with sharply pointed snout and a strong musky odour.
Birds
There is much to interest the bird-lover and ornithologist in the Colony of Hong Kong. Approximately two hundred species of birds have been identified, and may be grouped into four categories, namely:-(1) Residents, (2) Winter Visitors, (3) Summer Visitors, and (4) Passage Migrants. There is, therefore, always variety and the possibility of observing unrecorded species. The families of birds on record for the Colony include the crows, babblers, bulbuls, thrushes, redstarts, flycatchers, minivets, drongos, warblers, starlings, weavers, finches, buntings, swallows, wagtails, cuckoos, kingfishers, owls, falcons, pigeons, rails, gulls, terns, plovers, sandpipers, herons, ducks, and grebes, to mention only those represented by several species.
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