ENG-1947 — Page 180

Bellamcanda in the Iris family with orange flowers spotted with red. The Chinese Bell-flower is common on the hillsides in many localities.

In damp ravines there is found a Didymocarpus with lilac flowers, related to the greenhouse Gloxinia; and at least one Begonia, as well as a fragrant leaved rush, Stag's horn mosses, numerous Orchids, giant aroids, tree ferns and countless kinds of smaller ferns including Maidenhair and the local Royal ferns. On the hillsides English bracken-a very cosmopolitan plant-may be seen growing together with the so-called Hong Kong bracken, Gleichenia, and a fragrant leaved myrtle called Baeckia. All three are cut and used as fuel by the Hakka women of the villages.

Mammals.

The mammals of the Colony are mainly noctural and are rarely seen except at night on the roads when caught by the headlights of a car. Tigers visit the Colony nearly every winter and take an occasional buffalo or pig: at least once since the foundation of the Colony a tiger has visited the island, and during the Japanese occupation stories of an invader loose on the island penetrated even to the heart of the internment camp at Stanley. Leopards are much rarer. The Chinese Small Spotted Tiger Cat, a savage animal slightly larger than a domestic cat, is also found.

Three Civet cats occur-the Indian Civet which is rare; the Gem-faced Civet which occurs more often, and the Little Spotted Civet which is common. The Gem-faced is a palm civet and climbs trees in search of fruits and berries. The Crab- eating Mongoose has occasionally been seen. The Ferret Badger, a small and savage animal which looks and smells like a cross between a ferret and a badger, is quite common; it lives on fruits and small creatures. The Otter, though no longer to be found on the island, occurs in certain districts on the main- land and on Lantau Island. The South China Fox, a little greyer than the red fox of England, occurs on the Island and on the mainland. Dholes occur in the hills of the mainland but are never seen in large packs: they resemble Alsatian dogs but with much shorter legs, and are rather greyer than the Indian wild. dog.

Wild Boar are common in certain districts on the mainland and grow to a large size. The Barking Deer or Muntjac is a common resident; it is very rarely seen in the daytime except during foggy weather; its bark, or cough, is like that of a dog.

The only native monkey is the Rhesus Monkey which is very rare on Hong Kong island and probably extinct on the mainland. It still is to be found on the Lema islands south of Hong Kong. The monkeys in the Kowloon hills near the reservoir are descendants of captive animals released in the first world war.

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