much swollen, and were at first taken for maggots. Detailed descriptions of 

 this and two other fleas discovered appear elsewhere* in this volume. On 

 the same deer a new species of tick was also secured. 



This completed the zoological work done in this district. 



Mr. Clark and I left Yen-an Fu on January 28th, 1909, on our way south 

 to Hsi-an Fu. The journey was accomplished as rapidly as possible, so that 

 no collecting could be done. About five days journey south of Yen-an Fu we 

 passed through a belt of uncultivated country, also a result of the famine. 

 Here again game was abundant. Roedeer were seen close to the road, and a 

 wild boar was chased across in front of our mule-train by a hunter and his 

 dogs. Pheasants were so numerous that we amused ourselves by taking shots 

 at them with our revolvers as we rode along. 



As we neared Hsi-an Fu we came down upon some great loess steps. 

 Here we saw large flocks of bustards. I managed to secure one of these 

 handsome birds with a rifle shot. It weighed 16 lbs. At last we reached the 

 great Hsi-an Fu plain and shortly found ourselves in a veritable fowler's 

 paradise. The banks and flats of the rivers we crossed were black with wild 

 fowl, while great flocks of geese were seen feeding on the fields of early wheat. 

 They were easily shot from horseback. Here and there were small flocks of 

 stately cranes, whilst in the irrigation canals and marshy rice fields were 

 feeding numbers of Chinese ibises {Nipponia nippon), pink, white, or grey. 



We spent two days in Hsi-an Fu, and then went to a small town called 

 Lin-t'ung, where there are some famous hot springs. Here Mr. Clark left 

 me, hurrying on eastward to Ho-nan Fu in Honan, and thence to 

 Shanghai. I spent a few days trapping round Lin-t'ung but secured nothing 

 more than a specimen of the common mouse {Mus wagneri mongolium). On 

 the plain I shot geese, duck, hare, snipe, and bustard. In the course of a 

 single morning's shooting I was able to make the respectable bag of five 

 geese, three mallard, a fifteen pound bustard, and a hare. 



I next tried a place at the foot of the high mountains about fifteen miles 

 due south of Hsi-an Fu, finding quarters in a temple in a little village 

 named Liu-ts'un, at the mouth of a long ravine, and began trapping again, 

 this time with more success. The sulphur-bellied rat, the field-mouse, the 

 wood-mouse, and David's squirrel, were the only rodents secured. 



Two minks (Lutreola sibirica) were caught in the temple, after repeatedly 

 stealing game from my larder. These animals displayed the utmost ferocity 

 when caught. I have never witnessed such fury incarnate even in much 

 larger animals of more sinister repute. 



• Appi^ndix IV. 

 89 



