Zhenniao

[1][2][3] In Guo Pu's commentaries on the Classic of Mountains and Seas, he describes this bird as having a purple abdomen and green-tipped feathers, with a long neck and a scarlet beak.

Its meat, however, was said to be overtly toxic and gave off a gamy odor that rendered it inadequate for surreptitious use, and the zhen's excrement could dissolve stone.

[6] Aside from the Shanhaijing, Guangzhi, Piya, and Baopuzi, an entry for the zhen also appears in the Sancai Tuhui along with a woodblock print.

[7] Such references include the chapter "Duke Min's First Year" within the Zuo Tradition: The Rong and Di are like dholes and wolves and may not be satisfied; the various Xia states are close intimates and may not be abandoned.

[8]and in the "Biography of Huo Xu" from the Book of the Later Han: Would that not be like a person appeasing his hunger by eating monkshood, or quenching the thirst by drinking zhendu?

Wild zhenniao were supposedly last seen in the Song dynasty when many farming Han Chinese moved to Guangdong and Guangxi.