NATURAL HISTORY
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of its shy and nocturnal habits, which occurs in the Peak district and other suitable localities. There are also occasional records of the Eastern Chinese Otter. Two species of civets still to be found in the Colony are the Rasse or Small Indian Civet and the Masked Palm Civet; both are shy nocturnal creatures, being good climbers and feeding on small animals and fruit.
The attractive little Barking Deer, known also as Reeves' Muntjac, inhabits various hilly wooded localities on Hong Kong Island. Being largely nocturnal it is seldom seen, although its characteristic bark is familiar to many residents of the Peak. It is a small deer, about the size of a large dog; males have simple antlers, and their canines are developed as short curved tusks. In the New Territories, where it has been hunted, this animal has now become very scarce. The Wild Boar, which has also been hunted for many years, now occurs only in very small numbers in certain parts of the New Territories.
Rodents deserving special mention are the Chinese or Crestless Himalayan Porcupine, found both on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories, the Smaller Bandicoot Rat, and a pretty little animal called the Eastern Spiny-haired Rat which is bright yellowish-brown above and pure white on the belly. All three are entirely 'wild' (non-domestic) species. Others among the Colony's small mammals are the House Shrew, and several species of insectivorous and frugivorous bats.
Cetaceans so far recorded from within or near Hong Kong waters are the Common Dolphin, the Black Finless Porpoise, and the Common Rorqual or Finback Whale (a single record of the latter-during 1955). The name Black Finless Porpoise is mis- leading; these animals are a steel-grey colour in life, becoming entirely black only after death.
Birds. A wide variety of birds, represented by well over three hundred species, have been identified in Hong Kong. Consequently, there is much to interest ornithologists and bird watchers, and opportunity exists for a great deal more work on subjects such as breeding and feeding habits, various other aspects of ecology, and on migration. The avifauna of Hong Kong includes both palaearctic and oriental species, some of the families represented being those containing the crows, babblers, bulbuls, thrushes, redstarts, flycatchers, minivets, drongos, warblers, starlings, munias,