192 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



I was hardly in position before two geese came 

 straight for me. Waiting until they were almost above 

 my head, I knocked down both with a right and left. 

 The shots put thousands of birds in motion. Flock after 

 flock of geese rose into the air, and long lines of ducks 

 skimmed close to the surface, settling away from shore 

 or on the mud flats near the water's edge. 



No more birds came near me, and in fifteen min- 

 utes I returned to the inn for breakfast. Harry ap- 

 peared shortly after with only a mallard duck, for he 

 had guessed wrong as to the direction of the flight, and 

 was entirely out of the shooting. 



When the carts had started at eight o'clock Harry 

 and I rode down the shore of the lake to the south, with 

 Chen to hold our horses. The mud flats were dotted 

 with hundreds of ruddy sheldrakes, their beautiful bod- 

 ies glowing red and gold in the sunlight. A hundred 

 yards from shore half a dozen swans drifted about like 

 floating snow banks, and ducks and geese by thousands 

 rose or settled in the lake. We saw a flock of mallards 

 alight in the short marsh grass and when I fired at least 

 five hundred greenheads, yellow-nibs, and pintails rose 

 in a brown cloud. 



Crouched behind the salt mounds, we had splendid 

 shooting and then rode on to join the carts, our ponies 

 loaded with ducks and geese. The road swung about to 

 the north, and we saw geese in tens of thousands coming 

 into the lake across the mountain passes from their 

 summer breeding grounds in Mongolia and far Siberia. 

 Regiment after regiment swept past, circled away to the 



