CHAPTER XII 



SPORT IN WESTERN CHINA 



Wild-Fowl : Shooting on the Ya River 



WILD-FOWL in great variety abound all over China, 

 and the West has its share, though a lesser one, it is 

 true. In that great alluvial plain and swamp border- 

 ing the Tungting Lake in central China they occur in myriads 

 during the winter season. The same is true of the Lower Yang- 

 tsze delta. Throughout the region of the Gorges wild-fowl are 

 comparatively rare, for the simple reason that steep cliffs and 

 deep water are not to their liking. Above Kuichou Fu they 

 are more common, but not nearly as much so as farther west. 

 On the lower reaches of the Min River, and its tributary the 

 Ya, which unites with the Tung at Kiating Fu, they are very 

 plentiful. Sandbars difficult of access and stony places near 

 the rapids and races of the more shallow parts of the rivers are 

 favourite daytime haunts. At night the farmers' wheat and 

 pulse fields near the rivers are freely visited. The wild-fowl 

 which frequent Western China in the winter season probably 

 breed in the Kokonor region, whereas those which visit the 

 eastern parts of China breed in the tundras of Eastern Siberia. 

 The mountains of western Hupeh, eastern Szechuan, and 

 Shensi constitute barrier - ranges demarking the lines of 

 migratory flight. Apropos of this boundary it is worthy of 

 note that Geese have never been shot, neither have they been 

 observed resting, west of Ichang as far as records and my own 

 observations go. Yet to the east of this point they are probably 

 more abundant than any other family of wild-fowl. 



In the more eastern parts of the Empire, Chinese wild- 

 fowlers find a lucrative business in supplying the markets of 



Shanghai and other large Treaty ports. They frequently 



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