While walking in the fields two weeks ago, two farmers living in the Taihang Mountains in north China discovered a big bird with an injured wing.

To save the bird, they took it home and reported their discovery to a local forestry department, which told them the bird was a grey crane under second-class state.

The department contacted wildlife protection personnel and the bird was sent to a zoo in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, for medical attention.

As winter sets in, large flocks of birds begin to fly south. However, weak and wounded birds usually lagged behind their brothers and sisters in migration.

More often than not, people in the province will feed and treat wounded birds and contact wildlife departments, and some 60 rare birds such as the grey crane, swan, wild geese, and wild ducks have been saved in the past two months.

But not everyone is a good Samaritans. Seeking profit, some persons unlawfully hunt the birds in Shanxi and then try to smuggled them overseas. To cope with this problem, the police have strengthened their crackdown on the poaching activities.

On November 9, police in the city of Houma in Shanxi Province discovered in three bamboo baskets holding 17 owls, three of which were dead.

The pest-eating owls living in the forests of the Taihang and Luliang mountains are under strict protection. But an owl can fetch as much as 1,000 US dollars on the black market.

The police have sent 14 living owls to a wildlife protection center, and they continue to hunt down illegal traders.

In another incident, police in Taiyuan recently impounded on a vehicle on a highway which held 12 eagles that are under second- class state protection, and three suspects were arrested.

At present, the eagles are recovering after rehabilitation at a zoo in Taiyuan.

Shanxi Province is not the only place where people are paying greater attention to protecting birds. Tianjin Municipality in north China, which has 235 kinds of birds, is doing a good job as well.

Since early 1982, a "loving birds week" is arranged every year in the port city to increase people's awareness of wildlife protection, and residents in the city have set up five wildlife centers.

Police in Tianjin have resorted to stern measures against poachers, illicit bird traders, and restaurant owners who illegally purchase bird meat.

As a result, official surveys have found that the number of birds and bird species are both increasing year by year.