90 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



The river Yangtze is the dividing line 

 between the ranges of the two species of 

 hares which are met with in China. On the 

 north bank and hinterland is found the 

 larger species which very closely resembles 

 its European congener in its habits, size and 

 coloring. It has its " runs " as surely as 

 ever has the English hare. A fair average 

 weight may be placed somewhere between 

 five and seven pounds, and the animal has 

 the distinctive black points and tips to the 

 ears, while the upper surface of the scut is 

 black. For long this hare was confounded 

 with the Mongolian species (Lepus tolai), 

 but it is now authoritatively stated to be a 

 distinct species, and has been named after 

 a late naturalist consul to China, Lepus 

 Swinhoei. Known also as the Shantung 

 hare, it is shipped in large quantities to the 

 Shanghai market, whose other great source 

 of supply is Nanking, from which place a 

 consignnient of fifty brace is by no means 

 uncommon. 



The other species, the one whose habitat 

 is to the south of the river, used to be 

 fairly plentiful throughout this and the 

 adjacent provinces. Comparatively, it is an 



