SPORT IN WESTERN CHINA 155 



September, Mr. Zappey, shooting south-west of Tachienlu, 

 secured a fine female, and most unfortunately lost a large bull, 

 which he had knocked over and left for dead. 



Since fictitious claims to shooting and many other erroneous 

 statements have been made in regard to the Chinese Takin, I 

 have thought it well to place on record here the names of the 

 sportsmen who shot the first specimens of this interesting animal. 

 Up to Christmas 1910 no other specimens had been shot and 

 retrieved by a foreigner. 



This Takin has a wide range in Western China. To my 

 knov/ledge it is to be found from south of Tachienlu north to 

 the Kansu border,'and from this point east into Shensi province, 

 where it occurs on the Tsin-ling range. In certain places, like 

 the wild country between Lungan Fu and Sungpan, the Pan-Ian 

 range, and in the petty state of Yutung, it may be said to be 

 common. Anywhere in these regions where there are " salt- 

 licks " this animal is to be found. In western Szechuan its 

 eastern limits are the high ranges forming the western boundary 

 of the Red Basin. As to how far southwards this animal occurs 

 we are without precise information, and it is possible that it 

 traverses the whole mountain-system down to Assam. How- 

 ever, since it has not been reported from Yunnan, it may well 

 be that the southern limit is marked by the Upper Yangtsze, 

 where it makes its great bend to the east. 



It frequents difficult country between 8000 and 14,000 feet 

 altitude, making its home in the dense Rhododendron and 

 Bamboo thickets in fairly open forests near the upper limits of 

 the tree-line. It took Mears, as he himself told me in Chengtu 

 city soon afterwards, three weeks' hard hunting in the fiercest 

 and roughest of country to secure his trophy. Mr. Mears said 

 that he shot big game in many lands, but the quest of the Takin 

 proved the hardest and most difficult he had ever experienced. 

 M'Neill, on the other hand, happened on a herd in open country 

 where one would expect to find sheep, but thick cover was not 

 very far off. 



A powerful animal, the Takin has no difficulty in forcing 

 its way through dense thickets, tramping out well-defined 

 paths which are regularly used in the passage to and from 

 grazing grounds and salt-licks. Advantage of this habit is 



