92 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



mossgrown waste known as the Tnndra, 

 which stretches from the Gulf of Obi on 

 the west to Behring's straits on the east, 

 its northern limit being bounded by the 

 Arctic Ocean. During the open Arctic 

 season, in the countless tributaries of the 

 great rivers and in the innumerable lagoons 

 which characterize that region, wildfowl 

 find the food in which they delight, and it 

 is only when those food supplies are cut off 

 as they are when the ground become hid- 

 den in frozen snow and the waterways 

 covered with ice, that the instinct of self 

 preservation, chief amongst known causes, 

 impels migration to a kinder climate with 

 its more easily obtainable food. 



The passage of most migrants is steady 

 from north to south, that is continually 

 progressive towards the limit of the mi- 

 gration. Not so is the case of wild fowl in 

 North China, for birds will be found to be 

 in numbers at a certain place at a certain 

 distance south one day only to be discover- 

 ed at a certain distance north on another, 

 a fairly conclusive proof that their move- 

 ments are largely influenced by the temper- 

 ature. Cold weather will drive the birds 

 in a southerly direction, a warm break will 



