24 WITH BOAT ANP GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



their flight is both level and straight. Quail are seldom found in damp ground, but may be 

 looked for wherever short buff'alo grass abounds, in the long stubbles left by Chinese 

 sickles, and on marsh lands in the dry season. On such open grounds they readily fall 

 victims to the deadly drag net. Two men with simple drag-net will in a very short 

 time account for a profitable bag, and a fact may be pointed out here, probably 

 neither generally known or observed, that nearly all the quail brought to market arrive in 

 a live condition. The captives are secured in low flat baskets, barely two inches high, 

 large enough to hold 50 birds, topped by a cloth to prevent them damaging themselves. 

 Numbers are sent to Canton and other cities in the South where they are bought as much for 

 fighting purposes as for food. The quail is a very pugnacious little bird, and would seem to 

 like fighting for fighting's sake, and a pretty sight he is when anticipating an encounter. 



"Thus jealous quails as village cocks inspect 



Each others necks with stiffen'd plumes erect. 



Smit with the wordless eloquence they show 



The vivid passion of the threatening foe." 



It must have been a very long time ago now that in China, according to Blakey, 

 "quail were often so numerous as to obscure the sun in their flights." 



Quail must at times give out a very strong scent, as evidenced by the great distance 

 at which a dog may sometimes point the bird. At other times the keenest nosed dog will 

 gallop over the body of a wounded bird and not notice it. "It has often been affirmed that 

 game birds lose their scent during incubation" ( Teasdale-Buckell.) If so then, why not at 

 other times ? But scent is a mystery which has not yet by any means been solved. 



Either No. 8 or No. 9 shot may be used, and much sport may be had over a steady 

 pointer or setter. 



SNIPE SHOOTING. 



" The rushy pond, the open brook, 

 But chiefly to the marshes look." — Watt. 



The Common Winter Snipe {GaUinago celestis.) 



March is the month this bird is most frequently met with, but it may be come across 

 in any of the autumn or winter months. It is identical with the bird of Great Britain and 

 Northern Europe generally. It is a smaller bird than the migratory snipes, and may be 

 easily recognized by its 14 full-sized tail feathers of nearly uniform breadth, which have 

 gained for it in India the title " f antail." There is really no saying where this bird may not 

 be met with, but its preference seem to be for damp, low-lying patches of ground, the marsh 

 lands and reed beds of the various lakes, for choice. Locally it aff'ects the lands at Woosung, 

 Kajow, Sakong and the marshes at Fengwanshan, Tsingpoo, the Sitai lake, Quinsan and its 

 long line of marshes, Taitsan, Changza and the Taihu. There must, of course, be plenty of 

 other habitats, notably on the foreshore and the islands in the estuary of the river and the long 

 stretch of low land bordering the great sea wall. All snipes should be approached by the gun 

 from windward, especially the winter bird, as when flushed they must rise into the wind to get 

 a start, and so perforce towards the gun, thus affording an easier shot than otherwise would 

 be the case. If shooting over a pointer or setter upwind with a friend one gun should be sent 

 wide round and well a head of the dog's point, when the bird will probably rise close to him. 



