318 SHOOTING IN CHINA. 



Whampoa, and away we sailed for well-known ground 

 a few miles further up the river. E — was again 

 of the party, and we landed together, the other two 

 taking another beat. The rice had been cut some 

 time, and the fields were in capital condition for snipe. 

 It was unnecessary to go through the muddy slush ; 

 all we had to do was to walk round the narrow 

 divisions between the fields, and send a coolie whom 

 we had with us in to pick up the birds. Favourite 

 patches are always to be found amongst these paddy 

 stubble plots, for although the cultivation may extend 

 for miles, yet the divisions of what I have called fields 

 are very small, a quarter of an acre or sometimes half 

 an acre being about their size. The narrow bank or 

 division is raised, and about a foot or eighteen inches 

 wide. Along one of these tiny banks we were walking; 

 E — was first, and having all the shooting. Snipe were 

 rising in ones, twos, and half dozens. My friend had 

 not lately had miich practice, and found the birds 

 rather crooked in their flight ; at last a paddy bird (a 

 white egret) rose, and this he knocked over. Off he 

 darted to secure the bird, which had fallen some twenty 

 yards from the bank. A smooth tempting piece of mud 

 came in his way, and before I could call out to him 

 he was on it. The next moment the crust had broken 



