YANGTZE NOTES. — KIANGYIN TO KIOKiANG. 171 



up river. Shooting was almost out of the question, but we bagged three falcate-teal from flocks 

 lying under the shelter of the bank. We saw several buzzards and a flock of curlew, too 

 wary to be approached. About four o'clock we landed on the north bank, a short distance 

 above Eching, and found numbers of pheasants about ; it was quite a sight to see eight or ten 

 cocks running ahead of us over the snow. Getting within shot was quite another thing, but 

 by dint of patience and a little judicious driving towards patches of reeds and ditches four 

 pheasants and a woodcock were brought to bag. We stayed here the following day 

 and had a little sport in spite of the bad weather ; a few pheasants were bagged and I had 

 the good luck to run across a nice little piece of wildfowl ground. It was a stretch of wet 

 paddy-fields cut up by ditches and interspersed with several small shallow lakes. Finding 

 it impossible to stalk the ducks I adopted a plan which has often proved successful — 

 crouching down in the centre of ground and firing a barrel in the air. Result — consternation 

 among the birds, which take wing in all directions. Some are sure to pass within range ; 

 every shot that is fired startles them afresh, and before they realise where the danger is 

 some very good sport is the result. On this occasion I bagged four mallards, a falcate and 

 a common teal, besides a goosander shot in mistake for a duck. The same lot of swampy 

 ground yielded a hare, not the ordinary little Chinese hare, Lepus sinensis, but Swinhoes* 

 hare, Lepiis swinhoei, which is the common species on the north bank of the river as the other 

 is on the south. Peewits were plentiful and a couple were added to the bag. After being 

 duly hung, well cooked and served on toast these birds are hard to beat for breakfast. 

 Alternate snow and rain kept us in the boat the following morning, and a walk in the 

 afternoon added little to our score ; so before dark we travelled a few miles further up river. 



A bright sunny day was an agreeable change and we landed on the south bank next 

 morning with hope once more restored, and though game was not plentiful it proved to be 

 an interesting day. Just behind the sea-wall which lines the bank all along this part of the 

 river lies a reedy district cut up by ponds and paddy-fields. Beyond this is a highly 

 cultivated country which after an hour's exploration proved destitute of either game or 

 interest, so we returned to the reeds. There were a good many ducks here, but as they rose 

 from ponds among reeds which are lo to 15 feet high, they were difiicult to shoot; we 

 killed in all two mallard, seven teal, a snipe and three pheasants. I also shot a water-rail 

 (Ralliis indicus) very similar to our English bird, and a few other specimens. There were 

 numbers of herons, egrets and bitterns about, and buzzards were plentiful, as they are on all 

 the low lands of the Yangtze. In the afternoon we sailed up with a fair breeze close to 

 Single Tree Hill, anchoring for the night under the south bank. On the way we saw an 

 extraordinary number of goosanders busy fishing under the banks. In some of the little 

 bays as many as a hundred would be gathered together, not in one flock, but in pairs or 

 parties of half-a-dozen. As the boat approached they would scuttle across the bows and, 

 skimming low over the water, pitch again in mid-stream ; the females were always the first 

 to rise. Sometimes goosanders are very aggravating ; we were constantly shooting them 

 as duck, and frequently mistaking the smews for teal. Of course when one gets a full view 

 it is easy to distinguish them, but there is not always time to examine or deliberate. This 

 fine day proved to be a delusion for next morning we woke only to find it snowing hard, 

 and this afterwards turning to sleet, making shooting hopeless, we sailed away with a fair 



