The second type of fortune teller using his eyes carries a small bird in a cage. He also tells fortunes like the fortune teller just described but uses the bird as an additional aid. The bird is used in this manner: several piles of cards with Chinese characters written on them are placed near the bird cage. The bird is let out and picks out three or four cards with his beak from those scattered in front of him. The fortune teller uses these characters to aid in preparing a fortune for his customer.
Calls and sounds of the Peking street peddlers
Paintings of street sellers and descriptions of their cries and jingles from Samuel Victor Constant's Calls, Sounds and Merchandise of the Peking Street Peddlers, written in 1936 as a master's thesis at the College of Chinese Studies.
