SNIPE AND WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 379 



ducks were all tame, but that plenty of teal and widgeon, 

 some of very beautiful plumage, were scattered here and 

 there, and when we arrived at the reedy banks of the ponds, 

 snipe rose before us every minute. Our shot was rather too 

 large for these, and we reserved our fire for the widgeon, of 

 which we killed some very fine and fat specimens, determin- 

 ing to devote another day to the snipes. The inhabitants 

 whom we met in the fields, or on the pathway, observed our 

 proceedings with the most perfect indifference, and did not 

 obstruct us or annoy us in any way ; indeed, several passers- 

 by offered us a whiff from their long pipes, and other civili- 

 ties. We flushed one very fine old hen-pheasant, but let the 

 old lady pass by with impunity, as she had doubtless just 

 left her nest ; and even in China, where no game-laws exist, 

 it would have been a piece of unpardonable barbarity to 

 have shot her. After several hours' very tolerable sport, we 

 returned to our sampan and the vessel with six couple of 

 teal and widgeon, and a few snipe and curlew, which, after a 

 two months' voyage, formed a very agreeable addition to our 

 table. From what we had seen of the country, and its 

 shooting capabilities, we anticipated much sport during our 

 intended stay. 



The captain of the vessel being absent at Shanghai, four- 

 teen miles higher up the river, and being uncertain when 

 she would leave her present anchorage, we despatched a 

 Chinese with his sampan to procure some small shot, and on 

 the following morning started early in pursuit of snipes, 

 which we found in large quantities, but very wild. The 

 season had not arrived when general irrigation takes place 

 over the country, and they lay principally on the bare open 

 fields that were about to be inundated, for the purpose of 

 rice sowing. They were precisely the same description of 

 birds as those found in Europe, and of two kinds the full 

 and the jack snipe. We saw plover of several sorts, as well 



