ENG-1955 — Page 260

GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE

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of the New Territories, but are not numerous enough to encourage villagers to be professional hunters. Due to their shyness and nocturnal habits, these small deer are seldom seen; they are to be found in the Saikung region, on Lantao, and even in the Peak District on Hong Kong Island. Wild pigs are a recurring nuisance in remote villages, and are the most usual quarry for amateur hunters. They are found in the wilder parts of the Saikung and Shataukok regions, along the Pat Sin Range, and on Lantao Island. Malacca civets, found chiefly on the upper slopes of Taimoshan, have a commercial value for trappers, civet flesh providing one of the most famous Cantonese cold-weather dishes.

Other mammals, all rare, include ferret-badgers, the crab-eating mongoose, the large Chinese civet, the masked or gem-faced civet, the dhole, or wild red dog, and the South China red fox. Tigers have on various recorded occasions been seen in the Colony, but in each case they were almost certainly visitors from farther inland.

Among rodents, the most troublesome in country areas are porcupines and paddy rats, which do considerable damage to rice crops. Domestic rodents include the cosmopolitan common brown rat, the buff-breasted rat, and the house shrew.

An item of unusual interest during 1955 was the arrival of an immature whale (Balaenoptera physalus) referred to in the Review of the Year. A common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), captured at Cha Kuo Ling in December 1954, is believed to be the first record of the species within Hong Kong waters.

An exhibition of wild life, in three spacious enclosures in the Botanic Gardens, includes a number of rarely seen species of indigenous mammals.

The Colony's birds may be divided into residents, winter visitors, summer visitors and passage migrants, and for the bird-watcher the variety of species which may be seen in the course of a year provides continuous interest. The families of birds so far recorded include crows, babblers, bulbuls, thrushes, redstarts, flycatchers, minivets, drongos, warblers, starlings, weavers, finches, buntings, swallows, wagtails, cuckoos, kingfishers, owls, falcons, pigeons, rails, gulls, terns,