Sporting Notes in the Far East. 51 



bird to those usually seen. The back and breast of the cock bird 

 being of a very dark green, and in some cases nearly black ; the 

 hens are altogether of a darker hue, and both birds have short 

 tails. Very different to the Copper Pheasant of the same country, 

 who has a splendid rudder; I once killed one with a tail feather of 

 39 inches in length. These latter birds also afford much better 

 sport ; they frequent the hills, are wilder, and fly twice the pace 

 that the common bird does ; and are therefore (to use a Yorkshire 

 expression), " much harder to come in contact with," and the bagg- 

 ing of even no more than a brace, is generally considered altogether 

 a satisfactory business, 



On arriving in a strange harbour in Japan, and you are uncertain 

 whereabouts to land for pheasant shooting, owing to the ground 

 looking everywhere equally inviting ; I would recommend pulling 

 for the sides of the anchorage which bear within the Northern semi- 

 circle of the compass. These sides will always get most of the 

 warmth of the sun : and we all know how pheasants love to dust 

 and bask themselves in sunshine on every possible occasion. 



Of course this rule does not hold good everywhere, and I am 

 only speaking for a country situated in a comparatively high 

 Northern latitude, like Japan. 



11 I'AK'I KIIx'-I ." 



One of the great features of the Chinese and Hainan partridge, 



