34 Sporting Notes in the Far East. 



But the great disadvantage to this shooting, is the chance of 

 getting lost in the reeds ; and also the difficulty, in again returning 

 to your previous waiting place, should there have been any occasion 

 to quit it to follow a wounded bird ; as should you have gone far, 

 without leaving some guide for the return journey, retracing your 

 steps is next to a matter of impossibility. 



The best place to fix on for a " scouch hole," is close down to 

 the water's edge, and if possible near some weed, or mud shallow ; 

 as duck when flying low over a marsh, will always if practicable 

 follow water, and the shallows are their favourite feeding ground. 

 I give my plan, for marking my retreats. Before leaving the 

 ship equip yourself with about forty yards of broad white tape ; on 

 selecting your waiting spot, tie one end of the tape breast-high, 

 to the end nearest the lagoon or creek, then take the other end in 

 at right angles to the water, securing it at a similar height to 

 another bunch of reeds further in: as so dense do these immense 

 flags grow, that it is quite possible in searching for a particular 

 place, to pass by within a couple of yards without discovering it, 

 (and this long conspicuous tape will therefore greatly facilitate 

 matters). It appears a little elaborate, but it is not so, and I 

 always used it ; and on one fine day, or rather night, it certainly 

 was the means of getting me out of a scrape ; which I thought at 

 the time, would have ended in my leaving my bones ignominiously 

 in a Corean marsh, 



