ENG-1966 — Page 330

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NATURAL HISTORY

Shing Mun area in 1965 were in all probability a false alarm. Foot- prints were certainly found but are believed to have been counterfeit. The damage allegedly done by this 'tiger' was later traced to a feral dog. The last definite record of a large feline in the Colony was in 1957, when a leopard was seen in the New Territories. Long-tailed or Crab-eating Macaques, a sub-species of those found in Singapore, occur in small numbers in the Kowloon reservoir area and can often be seen near the Kowloon-Taipo Road and at Pipers Hill. These are probably descendants of escaped or released individuals. The indigenous Rhesus Macaques which were present on Hong Kong Island and in the New Territories have now apparently disappeared.

The Chinese Pangolin or Scaly Anteater, although nowhere abundant, is still found in the remoter regions. Other unusual mammals which remain extant are the Chinese Ferret Badger, Masked Palm Civet and Seven-Banded Civet. Of the rodents, the Chinese Porcupine deserves to be mentioned. Reaching four feet in length, it has striking black and white quills, and is still present on Hong Kong Island and in some places in the New Territories. Smaller mammals include eight species of rats and mice, two of shrews and at least 16 species of bats, among which is the Dog-faced Fruit Bat, which roosts under Chinese Fan Palms.

Cetaceans so far recorded from within or near Hong Kong waters are the Common Rorqual or Finback Whale, Pygmy Sperm Whale, Black Finless Porpoise and Common Dolphin.

There is ample opportunity, in Hong Kong for either serious study or simple enjoyment of the Colony's bird life. Including both resident and migratory birds, nearly 350 species in more than 60 different families have so far been recorded in the Colony. They provide considerable variety of form and occur in a wide range of habitats. Some of the families represented are those containing the Grebes, Bitterns and Herons, Ducks and Geese, Hawks and Eagles, Falcons, Crakes and Rails, Plovers and other waders, Snipe and Sandpipers, Gulls and Terns, Doves, Cuckoos, Owls, Nightjars, Swifts, Kingfishers, Swallows and Martins, Shrikes, Drongos, Starlings and Mynahs, Crows, Cuckoo-shrikes and Minivets, Bulbuls, Babblers, Flycatchers, Warblers, Thrushes, Pipits and Wagtails, Finches and Buntings, and Sparrows and Munias.

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