112 SHOOTING IN CHINA 



fowl when he will find that his 12 bore 

 will answer every purpose. 



At Hankow, 600 miles up the Yangtze, 

 geese may be seen in thousands upon the 

 great plain there. Time was when the 

 gunner used to ride up to the birds as near 

 as they would allow him. But neither that 

 mode of obtaining a shot nor by firing at 

 them with a rifle ever went much beyond 

 the experimental stage. At Ningpo, upon 

 the lakes, fairly successful bags have been 

 made by punting a dug-out or shallow craft 

 through the reeds ; but the difficulty of 

 recovering the cripples is a drawback, 

 for ducks and teal when dropped have a 

 happy knack of hiding among the tussocks, 

 or diving into the floating grass or weeds to 

 whose roots they cling with a tenacity only 

 terminated by death from drowning. But 

 luck in fowl shooting comes as often to him 

 who " happens " upon birds as to him who 

 systematically pursues them. When birds 

 are first sighted in a creek or circumscribed 

 waterway it would be well to take bearings 

 by some landmark of their exact position^ 

 and then under cover of such shelter as 

 there may be advance unhesitatingly. How- 

 ever, in any case, the endeavour should be 



