Excerpt from Illustrated Catalogue of the Rare and Beautiful Oriental Art Treasures of Supreme Quality Procured in China During the Past Year by the Senior Member of the Well-Known Firm of Yamanaka and Company and Their Staff of Experts: To Be Sold at Unrestricted Public Sale on the Dates Herein Stated Among the decorative productions other than porcelains in this year's collection the small group of bird-cages is sure to attract attention, and makes timely a word on a little - known trait of the Chinese, their treatment of their pet - bird companions. Even in the sorry streets of teeming cities one finds, where trees attract wild birds, groups of people sitting on green banks or squatting on the sun-baked mud, with their caged household pets about them - brought out for an airing where they may sing among their free companions and hear their fellows' song. Or here and there a man, leaving the cage at home, is to be seen walking along the street with his bird attached by a yard or so of string to a short crutch-handled stick like a walking cane, swung horizontally at arm's-length or held in the air parasol like, the bird perched on the crutch singing, or taking a shortflight to the owner's shoulder and back again. (here, it is the dog that gets the daily exercise.) After the walk some may be found at the restaurants, enjoying the music of their birds through the meal - which may be spiced with small wagers on whose songster voices his feelings loudest or most happily. One day last summer, at the entrance Of the Temple of Agri culture, Peking, Out in the Chinese City, I came upon a group Of humble Chinamen seated by the roadside in the shade of some low trees, with caged pets beside them which they had brought for the customary outing, and a couple of them were induced to stand before the camera for the sake Of their interest in the birds. The photograph was for my private use; but the sight of this collection Of cages, recalling a pretty trait of the heathen, suggested reproducing it here. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.