YANG-TZE RIVER 1 55 



I have not found the Yangtze valley the 

 paradise of the sportsman" as some writers 

 have described it. My most successful 

 pheasant shooting has been in the inland 

 country, where rice, peas, and buckwheat 

 are the principal crops and where the fields 

 in which these crops are cultivated are near 

 the low lying hills and mountains. On the 

 Yangtze I have made larger bags when 

 shooting near the patches of reeds that grow 

 between the river and the cultivated fields. 

 After the morning feed the pheasants are 

 fond of resting, during midday, among the 

 reeds, and one can walk along the dykes 

 and get in some effective rights and lefts if 

 he has a well trained dog. The ravines that 

 make inland from the river are also the 

 favorite resort of the pheasant and woodcock. 

 If the tide in the river is high the shooter 

 should engage a small boat and go up the 

 little creeks that flow into it. Often he will 

 find on both sides pheasants and woodcock, 

 and these are slow to rise from such coves 

 and restful places. Another resort for 

 pheasants is on the hillsides where the acorn 

 bearing scrub-oaks grow. They are fond 

 of acorns, the walking is not very incon- 

 venient and the oaks are not tall enough to 



