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CHAPTER XXVIII. 



A STRAY NOTE. 



r\ISCUSSIONS concerning the weight of game constantly arise, are often carried on with 

 *^ considerable asseveration, and expression is given to opinions which, to say the least, 

 when put to the test, are frequently found to be very wide of the mark. Large drafts, in 

 fact, are made upon imagination. Now it should not be forgotten that a great number of 

 birds shot in this part of China are migratory, and consequently that their weight must 

 largely depend upon the condition they are in when they are shot. For instance a Swinhoe 

 snipe on arrival may be as thin as a rail and weigh possibly not more than 5 ounces, but 

 given a couple of days in warm weather on a fat feeding ground and the same bird may 

 reasonably weigh 7 ounces. 



Further it is well known that in the course of a single day's shooting a disparity of a 

 couple of ounces may often be found to exist between a fat and a lean bird. 



Ducks again are very deceptive. They always look as if they weighed much more 

 than the tell-tale scale records them to be. 



Again, how wonderfully various are the guesses at the weight of a fox. One often 

 hears it put down as 12 lbs. to 14 lbs. The biggest fox that I ever saw in China was one I shot 

 myself and which I had mounted on account of its size, but this animal only weighed 91 lbs. 

 Woodcocks, again, vary very considerably both in colour and weight. A good weight 

 for a cock is 14 ounces, but Mr. A. Veitch of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank once shot 

 one which I myself can testify weighed 18 ounces. 



The following are the approximate weights of well grown mature specimens : — 



Bean Goose 



Mallard 



Duck 



Black Duck 



Wild Turkey 



Widgeon 



Teal... 



Golden Plover 



Woodcock 



Spring Snipe (Swinhoe) 



do. (Pin-tailed) 



Pheasant (cock) 



do. (hen) 



Common or River Deer... 



Hares (South of Yangtze) 



do. (North of Yangtze) 



