 The island once boasted at least three mating pairs of sulphur-crested cockatoos as well as many snakes; banded kraits, brown cobras and bamboo snakes were all common denizens as late as the 1980s.Black kites often hovered overhead, looking for prey and carrion amongst the many tamarind, "ficus benjamina" and banyan trees.The island was ceded by the Qing dynasty to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland along with Kowloon in 1860 through the Convention of Peking.