CHAPTER XXII 



THE WAPITI OF KANSU (Cervus kansuensis) 



WHILST I had been devoting my whole attention 

 to the roe, George had been so fortunate as to kill 

 a bear on the very first day's hunting from our new 

 camp. He saw it about four hundred yards below 

 him in a little clump of bushes which grew in a 

 sheltered patch on the rough and stony hill-side. 

 The ground was very steep, but he got down the 

 hill to within one hundred and eighty yards of the 

 bushes, when he distinguished a head and neck. 

 He made a very good shot, when the beast ran 

 some way and disappeared. Yung-sha, his hunter, 

 did not apparently realise what they were after 

 until he followed the tracks into the thicket, 

 whence he shortly emerged looking very scared, 

 and expressing a desire to go home. George, 

 however, went on, and they found the bear lying 

 dead. 



These bears are said by the natives to mate in 

 April after hibernating. They go into their winter 

 quarters in the ninth month, after the first fall of 

 snow ; the female bear emerging with a cub two or 

 three months old. 



Next day they brought him in and skinned him. 

 Unfortunately the skin was left lying on the ground 



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