12th CENTURY CHINESE BIRD MYSTERY

Regular readers will note that Robert Schneck has a habit of sending us interesting things. Today he wrote:

Hi Jon,

This item isn't new, but I thought you might like to see it.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90782/6670503.html

I've looked at a few other articles about the scrolls and can't find one that names the birds. They were rare in the 12th century, however, and assuming that the Chinese word means something like the English word "rare", it would be interesting to find out if all these species still exist.

Robert

Well I can recognise some of them. The top row (from the left) shows a hoopoe , a Blue magpie , a hwamei and the second from the right on the bottom row is a laughing thrush of some species, but the others elude me. What do you think they are? Could any of them have been so rare in the 12th Century that they no longer exist today?