WILD-FOWL SHOOTING OUTSIDE WOOSUNG. 43 



inner lightship — go down the creek just above the Tunkadoo Dock, opposite the Arsenal. 

 By this creek you can get within two miles of the Yangtze. A brisk walk of half-an-hour 

 will bring you to the foreshore, and your sport begins. After the reeds and grass are cut 

 the country is very bare, and you must try blinds. Either a cask and decoys as aforesaid 

 will answer the purpose, or you may try a painted imitation of a water-buffalo stretched 

 on a bamboo frame. Have painted canvas leggings for yourself and for your boat-coolie 

 who will do the hind-legs; you do the fore-legs yourself and work a string to do the head. 

 If a friend goes with you as hind legs, don't let him carry a gun. Your approach to the fowl 

 must be slow and sinuous, imitating a buffalo feeding all the time. Wild-geese, as a rule, 

 are very wary, but sometimes they slip up. One day I saw with my glasses about twenty 

 feeding in a field. A Chinaman passed quite close to them on a footpath and they 

 apparently took no notice of him. I thought I would try my hand; so, dropping behind an 

 embankment, I went along until I struck the foot-path. Then I put my gun over my shoulder 

 like a coolie's bamboo and marched boldly over the path. At lOO yards the sentinels gave 

 the alarm but after a consultation they resumed feeding. They allowed me to get within 

 40 yards when one old fellow evidently said "I don't like this — I'm off." Just as they were 

 rising I fired and bagged four. 



If, instead of using your house-boat, you hire a big boat to go direct outside for a few 

 days, proceed as before directed. On passing Woosung heave-to for a minute and engage a 

 Woosung boat. Give directions to follow you and proceed. See that you have a man on 

 board with local knowledge, as the banks and shoals are constantly changing, and even 

 Bush Island, as previously stated, is washing away. If you are not pressed for time go 

 straight down to House Island, four or five miles east from the Kiutoan Lightship, wait for 

 high water to get into the creek near the beacon, and there you are in safe quarters, with any 

 number of wild-fowl about and the place all to yourselves, a dreary waste of mud and 

 reeds, enlivened only by the presence of the steamers passing in and out, a couple of miles off. 



A steam launch service is now available for any boat owner who wants to get 

 quickly to the several islands mentioned herein, while sportsmen may send their boats over 

 to Tsungming a day ahead and follow by steamer. One launch leaves Shanghai (French 

 Bund) at 9 o'clock every morning, one leaves Tsungming at same hour. 



— M a:»»ja«,<?< M — 



