[
    {
        "id": 204257,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1961",
        "page_number": 25,
        "title": "RAS-1961",
        "content_text": "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch\n\nRASHKB and author\n\n22\n\nVol. 1 (1961)\n\nISSN 1991-7295\n\nOne of the three best songsters in the Colony is, rather surprisingly, the Rufous-backed Shrike, a common resident. It has an interesting ‘melanistic’ or black variant which can often be seen and is known locally as the Dusky Shrike. One or two races of the Brown Shrike may be frequently observed on passage. They are much smaller than the Rufous-backed Shrike and are rather dull in plumage.\n\nA beautiful summer visitor is the Black-naped Oriole, which breeds on Hong Kong Island, near Tai Po, and in Fanling. Its black and gold plumage is a brilliant sight flashing amongst the trees and its flutey whistle is distinctive.\n\nTwo kinds of drongo are summer visitors to the Colony; the Black Drongo, mainly found nesting on Stonecutters Island with a very few pairs elsewhere; and the Hair-crested Drongo, which is much more widespread although not at all common. These two can be distinguished by looking for the spangled plumage and upturned tail-feathers of the Hair-crested Drongo.\n\nThe Chinese Starling is a local summer visitor that appears to have almost died out on Hong Kong Island, where it used to be widespread. The Black-necked Starling nests locally in the northern New Territories, frequently in electric pylons. The Crested Mynah is common and widespread (the little tuft at the base of the bill gives it its name) and the Common Mynah is resident, but confined to a very small area bordering the Ping Shan marshes.\n\nConsidered by many to be the Colony's most beautiful bird, the Blue Magpie unfortunately does not have a nature matching its looks. With its striking blue, black and white plumage and extraordinarily long tail, it is a pity that it must rank with its cousin, the Common Magpie, as the Number One predator on eggs and young birds. Both magpies are residents, and quite numerous locally. The Jungle Crow may be seen all the year round on Hong Kong Island and near Tai Po, but nesting has rarely been proved. This all-black crow has a more attractive relative in the Collared Crow, nicknamed the ‘Parson Crow’ from its white collar. It also is a rare resident, but both species have their numbers augmented by winter visitors.\n\nThe backbone and mainstay of the Colony's bird population are undoubtedly the bulbuls, and the three resident species may be counted on to appear when nothing else does. The Crested Bulbul is a bird of gardens and village woods, most attractive with its spiky top-knot. The Chinese Bulbul is abundant; indeed it cannot be avoided. The Red-vented Bulbul, a rather cheerful-sounding bird, prefers the more open country, especially hillsides.\n\nThe Black-faced Laughing-thrush is a common bird throughout the Colony and its nickname of ‘Seven Sisters’ is due to its tendency to move around in a noisy family party. It has a rare",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 204261,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1961",
        "page_number": 29,
        "title": "RAS-1961",
        "content_text": "(c) of what bird is the Koel a parasite on Hong Kong Island? (d) What species of swift nests on Waglan? Swifts with white rumps have nested recently, but have not yet been identified. (e) Does the Jungle Crow nest on Hong Kong Island, and if so, where?\n\n(f) Does the White-faced Wagtail nest at Kai Tak Airfield? Adults have been seen entering suitable nesting sites there in the spring, and birds have sometimes been seen in summer.\n\nAs I write this, the time for me to leave Hong Kong draws near. During three years here, the birds of the Colony have given me many hours of enjoyment. I hope that this article may interest at least some readers in going out to see the birds for themselves, and I feel sure that, if they do, they will not regret it.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1961.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 212837,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1992",
        "page_number": 146,
        "title": "RAS-1992",
        "content_text": "131\n\nwith him.\n\nThe marriage customs are many and curious. We happened to be passing a village on the day of a wedding and were invited to see the communal dancing; the ceremony included inspecting the bride and groom in bed by the fitful light of torches. It seems that immediately after the feast the lucky couple retire to bed and are there visited by all and sundry to an accompaniment of the sort of joking which does not appear in print. The custom of men seizing their brides in mock raiding attacks, staged for the purpose, is also common. During one such attack, until we discovered what it was about, we thought that we were being sniped at by the Japanese.\n\nNancha is high up the mountain, some 6,000 feet, overlooking the Salween, which here flows at 1,000 feet above sea level. The river itself was out of sight in the bottom of the valley where it ran between steeply-sloping banks. Across the valley on the mountain on the far side a mile away we could see in the bright sunlight the villages occupied by the Japanese. Their system of garrisoning was not continuous; they had one or two central posts, and from these they would man one or other of the lesser posts. Through my glasses I could see the posts; trenches with grass huts screened in the jungle nearby, and the ubiquitous Japanese flag. They were sited where the path entered the village high above the river: a mile away as the crow flies, to reach Nancha from one of those villages would take the best part of a day.\n\nFrom Nancha, Jack left to reconnoitre the Salween ferries, while I moved on more slowly as I wished to study the country and make friends with the people; we took three days to reach the Lihsaw village of Hsintang. Despite the small size of our party our progress was triumphal: the young women were shy and kept out of the way; the men were still cowed and not sure of their position; but the old women everywhere came out to greet us. They met us with gifts of bananas, brought up from the hot valleys below, chickens and eggs, neatly done up in long tubes of plaited rice-straw; and being of Chinese blood they prepared tea for our refreshment and invited us indoors to drink it. They said, \"We have not seen you Englishmen for a long time. Where have you been for the last two years? We have waited for you a long time, and now conditions are so bad that they are no longer to be borne. But you have at last returned and set our minds at ease.\" This blind confidence was very touching: may Britain long prove worthy of it.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x",
        "rank": 0
    }
]