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CHAPTEE IV. 



THE FLYING AND GROUND GAME OF THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



CHOOTING may be fairly termed general in the Yangtze Valley when a not unlucky 

 *^ day's bag might possibly be found to comprise deer, hare, pheasants, partridge, 

 quail, woodcock, snipe, golden plover, swan, duck and geese, and several varieties of teal, 

 and, if luck would have it so, a pig— to say nothing of an incidental wolf, fox, badger or 

 coon-faced dog, and one or two specimens of the cat kind. In a three weeks' trip in a 

 foot-hill region some such assortment might not unreasonably be anticipated, especially 

 if the shooter were to put a little more enthusiasm into his work, and not so religiously 

 devote his attention to the ubiquitous pheasant as is the common practice. 



There are three grand divisions of the flying game and nature assigns to each a specific 

 or particular season. For four months of the year, that is from 1st October to 1st February, 

 pheasants, partridge, quail, woodcock, etc., invite the sportsman afield. For two months in 

 the year, that is from the middle of April to the middle of May, and from the middle of 

 August to the middle of September, the migratory snipes pass across the Valley on their 

 Northward and Southward journeys ; while during the three months of December, January 

 and February wildfowl of every description in countless numbers frequent the estuary of 

 the Yangtze, and the innumerable lakes and waterways of the interior. In March the 

 winter snipes are in greater evidence on the marshlands than at any other season. 



In respect of ground game the Yangtze Valley proper is singularly poor. The River 

 is the dividing line between the ranges of the two species of hares met with, and its banks 

 are the home of the well known hornless or river, deer. 



These and the pigs are practically the only ground game of the Valley. 



PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



"See from the brake the whirring pheasant springs, 

 And mounts exulting on triumphant wings I" — Pope. 



The Ring-necked Pheasant (Pbasianus torquatus.) 



This is the bird met with everywhere in these provinces, noted for its pluck and 

 cunning, and prized as affording the very cream of sport. Nor does he, apparently, seem 

 to get nigher extirpation because of any increased cultivation of the soil. His safety rather 

 lies in the larger number of cultivated fields than were in existence a few years ago, and 

 which at the close of the season are generally so bare as to afford him the opportunity of 

 seeing his pursuers long before they can get anything like within range of him, and so of 

 completely getting out of harm's way. True it may be that some erstwhile favourite 

 shooting districts do not to-day possess their former attractions, but the birds, apparently, 



