Bits and bobs

('Falconer,' © Seoul History Museum, Seoul History Archive)

Reading from Dark Flock, masked up like it's 2021
© Steven Gao

  While recently editing another two volumes of ‘Sleep Encyclopedia’ for Bettersleep, I came across the ‘Korea’ entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica from 1911. Plenty of eyebrow-raising and dated facts/points-of-view, to be sure! I’ll only post the entry for fauna here, which may be of interest to fans of Korean wildlife. Tigers and Leopards in Seoul!

“Fauna.—The tiger takes the first place among wild animals. He is of great size, his skin is magnificent, and he is so widely distributed as to be a peril to man and beast. Tiger-hunting is a profession with special privileges. Leopards are numerous, and have even been shot within the walls of Seoul. There are deer (at least five species), boars, bears, antelopes, beavers, otters, badgers, tiger-cats, marten, an inferior sable, striped squirrels, &c.

Among birds there are black eagles, peregrines (largely used in hawking), and, specially protected by law, turkey bustards, three varieties of pheasants, swans, geese, common and spectacled teal, mallards, mandarin ducks, white and pink ibis, cranes, storks, egrets, herons, curlews, pigeons, doves, nightjars, common and blue magpies, rooks, crows, orioles, halcyon and blue kingfishers, jays, nut-hatches, redstarts, snipe, grey shrikes, hawks, kites, &c. But, pending further observations, it is not possible to say which of the smaller birds actually breed in Korea and which only make it a halting-place in their annual migrations.”

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  In other news, endless thanks if you supported Dark Flock, my wacky collection of ‘Twilight Zone Birding’ short stories during its crowd-funding/pre-order stage. If you haven’t already received your copy, fear not, it will arrive in the next week or so! I’ve been informed by the publisher that there has been a ‘production bottleneck’ that sees the books being delivered to them in small batches, and they're being sent out as soon as they get them. Glad I don't have to worry about all that, heh. Last week’s launch/reading went well, in spite of me catching a well-timed cold. Thanks for those that came out on that night to listen to me ramble! PS, bonus points if you can identify the bird in the flip-book bit...

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  In ‘first-of-year’ news, I heard Chestnut-flanked and Black-throated Green Warblers singing in NDG Park yesterday (May 15). Today (May 16), I heard FOY Tennessee Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, and even what was surely a Philadelphia Vireo there.