PHOTOGRAVURE 13 



NORTHERN CHINA— THE HOME OF THE BROWN EARED-PHEASANT 



The haunts of this bird are guarded neither by dense tropical jungles nor savage tribes, but by bleak, 

 inhospitable wastes, where shelter and food are unknown. The sharp stones cut the feet of the palanquin 

 bearers until the path is bloody. To find the birds themselves, one must leave all attendants behind and 

 search day after day over the semi-barren tundras, hiding behind scrubby growths of vegetation to scan 

 every rock and shadow. 



The only inhabitants of this region are nomadic Tartars, whose sole possessions are their flocks of 

 black-headed sheep. Now and then these wandering men bring a small herd to Pekin to exchange for the 

 necessaries of life. Their fathers and grandfathers before them have done this selfsame thing, have followed 

 the dim, stony trails which converge toward the old gateway in the Great Wall — until the path under the 

 gateway has been worn smooth by the passing caravans of over twenty-one centuries. Now and then the 

 most ragged of the shepherds will have the tail feather of an Eared- Pheasant stuck jauntily in his rough 

 skin cap. 



