200 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



morning shoot, and I pushed out to meet 

 him. He had shot a hen-pheasant and one 

 or two ducks and felt the need of a cup of 

 strong coffee. I told him that I had shot 

 two large animals but would not name 

 them which excited his curiosity, and he 

 proposed that we return to the houseboat 

 and rest until the hour for afternoon shoot- 

 ing. 



One of my most pleasant trips to the lakes 

 was in company with another friend. Each 

 of us owned a new 8 bore Greener gun and 

 was anxious to put it to the test. We left 

 Shanghai at 4 p.m. on one of the regular 

 mail steamers, but did not reach the lakes 

 until about 2 p.m. the following day. We 

 had our houseboat pulled over into the 

 lakes and had not yulohed far towards the 

 lower end when we saw that the water in 

 that direction was almost covered with 

 ofeese and ducks. The 8 bores were at once 

 taken out of the cases, cleaned of oil, and 

 each had his small boat ready for the even- 

 ing shoot. I was the first to fire and with a 

 right and left brought down two large 

 geese. As my friend had never stalked 

 wild geese, he did not get any the first 

 afternoon, but on the second he made a 



