A VERY MIXED MENAGERIE. 215 



purpose with terriers, spades, and all the paraphernalia of 

 the chase. The only one which I ever surprised in the open 

 was a belated young one just after dawn, close to where the 

 Shanghai Railway Station now stands. I was on the look out 

 for spring snipe : young "Brock" was doubtless sauntering 

 home after a "night of it." But there have been many bad- 

 ger hunts with and without dogs in the district round Shang- 

 hai. The grave mounds are the favourite hunts of badgers. 

 There they can form a "sett" at once dry and comfortable. 

 So "Uncle Brock" takes up his abode where "the rude fore- 

 fathers of the hamlet sleep," and from this hallowed ground 

 is ruthlessly drawn at times by the young men of Shanghai. 

 A bright moonlight night is the time for hunting him if he 

 is to be got in the open. Then some good cross-bred bull- 

 terriers form perhaps the ideal pack. They are speedy 

 enough easily to outstrip theix quarry before he can reach 

 the sanctuary of his "sett," and strong enough to hold him 

 up when headed. Then he can be either dispatched or 

 "sacked" at will. Digging him out is at once a labour and 

 an art. It is necessary first of all to know in which of the 

 many ramifications of his tunnelled home he has taken refuge. 

 So a terrier has to be sent in to find him and keep him en- 

 gaged.if possible, whereupon hisline of retreat may if necessary 

 be cut off by a cross trench into which he may, perhaps, thrust 

 himself by digging, doubtless to his unmeasured surprise. 

 The record weight of a badger is given as 37 lb. There 

 are various species. 



Hares are other animals that are well dispersed through- 

 out the Chinese Empire. There are at least seven species 

 of Asiatic hares, but so little is as yet known respecting the 

 various Chinese species that it is impossible to say how 

 many are to be found within the many climes to which 

 China can lay claim. Lepiis Sinensis, as known in this 

 neighbourhood, is more of a rabbit than a hare in size. 

 It is, however, a true hare, the rabbit, so far as I am 

 aware being unknown in the province. It is plentiful 

 enough when the conditions are suitable. I have had some 

 very good hare shooting at Christmas time in fields of 

 standing straw from which the grain had been taken. 

 Natives say that the local hare burrows, and they point to 

 "buries" in grave mounds as proof, but it has never been 

 my good fortune to see one put out of such cover. 



Born slayers of the hare are the weasel tribe, very 

 numerously represented everywhere, as may be seen any day 

 by a visit to a pelt-monger's smelly establishment. I have 

 frequently seen weasels within the limits of the Shanghai 

 settlement, and those residents who pride themselves on 

 their fowls have to provide carefully against nocturnal visits. 



