142 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



shoots the rapid or race it is up to the man with the gun to 

 bring down the ducks. The size of the bag depends largely 

 upon the steadiness of nerve, but it takes a few cartridges 

 before one can fairly well judge just how much to " lead " 

 a bird when pulling the trigger. The movement of the craft, 

 both forward and sideways, considerably increases the diffi- 

 culties of aim. Two guns are best, one forward and the other 

 aft. The dead birds are easily retrieved at the foot of the 

 rapids ; the wounded ones are carried over by the force of the 

 current, and can then be finished off. Those falling on land are 

 difficult to mark down and retrieve. After a little practice 

 a steady shot can make a good bag of duck from these 

 rafts. 



Early in December 1908 my companion, Mr. Zappey, 

 accompanied me on a j ourney by raft from Yachou to Kiating, 

 which occupied a couple of days. The weather was boisterous 

 and wet, and wild-fowl comparatively scarce. We shot and 

 retrieved 53 ducks, and probably killed in addition about a 

 third of that number. Although the bag was not large the 

 excitement and fun was immense. To anyone in search of 

 exhilarating sport, Duck-shooting from a raft journeying 

 down the Ya River can be confidently recommended. 



The common wild ducks found in the west are Mallard, 

 Wax-bill, and ordinary Teal. Others occurring there in lesser 

 numbers are Falcate Teal, Spectacled Teal, Golden-eye, 

 Pin-tail, Goosander, Smew, Pochard, Shoveller, Lesser Grebe, 

 and Ruddy Sheldrake (Brahminy) (apropos of the latter it 

 may be of interest to mention that I once found a couple 

 breeding in the margin of an alpine lake near Tachienlu, at 

 15,500 feet altitude). Three species of Gull — two large grey 

 kinds and a kittiwake — ascend to this region, 2000 miles inland 

 from the coast. Widgeon I never saw in the west, and the 

 same remark applies to the Mandarin Duck, Swan, and Geese. 

 At Kiating the harsh cry of a very large kind of Crane may be 

 heard any night during November, and on dull wet days small 

 flocks may be seen flighting southward. Very seldom, how- 

 ever, do they alight in this neighbourhood, and still more rarely 

 are they to be seen resting during the daytime. These birds 

 winter around the lakes in Yunnan, and apparently make a 



