PHEASANT SHOOTING. 95 



and we decided to cross one of these. In descending the slope several 

 pheasants were put up, but escaped, as also did a couple of woodcocks. 



When half way up the opposite slope, we commenced working over 

 some long-deserted terraces, and here we had the best sport of the day. 

 The scrub was just thick enough to shelter the birds, and not so thick 

 as to impede our progress. \Ye did good shooting, finally reaching the 

 head of the valley with another ten birds between us. Crossing the 

 ridge at the top. we descended a second ravine, and again found our- 

 selves in the thick of it. Birds were getting up all round, and it was 

 only the approach of twilight, as the sun dipped behind the ridges, that 

 caused a falling off in our marksmanship. Three hares, breaking cover, 

 were easily secured, however, and a large covey of partridges also 

 Bupphed a couple of birds to the bag. \Vhen we finally stopped shoot- 

 ing, and headed for camp in the fast gathering gloom, we carried with 

 us the respectable bag of twenty-five pheasants, three hares and two 

 partridges. These added to our other bags, brought our total up to 

 about seventy head. 



Last Chinese New Year a shooting party from Tientsin, which 

 I was kindly invited to join, had a very enjoyable week on the Tsin- 

 pu line. Stopping off at the San-chieh station (about one hours run 

 from Pu-kou) we shot over the surrounding hills with fair success for 

 three days. Considering that the district had been worked pretty con- 

 tinuously since the previous autumn, and that the Station Master him- 

 self had shipped four piculs of pheasants a day for a fortnight to the 

 Shanghai markets, pheasants were surprisingly numerous. There were 

 a great many quail ; in fact the quail shooting was liable to prove up- 

 setting to the nobler sport, but at least one never lacked something 

 to shoot at. Hares, also were quite plentiful, while waterdeer might be 

 put up at any moment from the reeds that fringed the streams along 

 the valley bottoms. At the heads of the valley, where the natives had 

 made small reservoirs to keep up a supply of water for their paddy 

 fields, large flocks of duck might be had. 



The hills were low, and, except where the scrub had been burnt 

 away, afforded good cover. Our best day was when we beat through 

 the country half way between San-chieh and the next station south- 

 ward. We commenced by driving through some scrub-oak to the east of 

 the railway, where a couple of birds were bagged. Next, after crossing 

 some rather bare hills, we suddenly came upon a large bouquet of hand- 

 some cocks, out of which four were secured, before the last bird dis- 

 appeared over the ridge. Continuing, a couple of hares and some 

 quail were potted as we crossed a valley. We had now worked back 

 to the railway line, crossing which we traversed a wide valley. In 



