SHOOTING IN CHINA. 309 



fellow-trout; but the Chinese birds never attempted 

 to reach the bank ; they were evidently too well up to 

 their business to forget their duty in this way. 



Great quantities of game are now netted by the 

 natives in these northern parts of China ; the demand 

 is sufi&cient to make it well worth their whUe doing so, 

 and not only is the game thus caught sent to other 

 parts of China, but a great deal is sent over to Japan, 

 where, in Kobe and Yokohama, the markets during the 

 winter months are quite swamped by it ; so much so, 

 that before I left the latter country, the Japanese had 

 almost given up supplying the shops and market with 

 their own country's game, being unable to do so at the 

 price they can supply China game at. It is always 

 a sort of admitted fact, or understanding, that game, if 

 killed by being shot, was infinitely more tasty and 

 delicate than if caught in traps or nets. I cannot own 

 to ever having detected the slightest difference myself, 

 and I am quite certain that I could not possibly tell one 

 from the other, except of course by observing shot-holes, 

 or finding the shot itself. However, most of the buyers 

 of China game objected to netted birds ; the Chinese 

 suppliers soon found this out, but as soon decided on a 

 remedy, which was simple, and had the decided effect. 

 Before bringing the birds to the market, they tied a 

 great bundle of them up together, snipe, pheasants. 



