42 ACROSS MONGOLIAN PLAINS 



ness, storing quantities of fat in their great hump res- 

 ervoirs. 



There was even more bird life than I had seen the 

 previous September. The geese had all flown north- 

 ward where we would find them scattered over their 

 summer breeding grounds, but thousands of demoiselle 

 cranes {Anthropoides virgo) had taken their places in 

 the fields. They were in the midst of the spring court- 

 ing and seemed to have lost all fear. One pair re- 

 mained beside the road until we were less than twenty- 

 feet away, stepping daintily aside only when we threat- 

 ened to run them down. Another splendid male per- 

 formed a love dance for the benefit of his prospective 

 bride quite undisturbed by the presence of our cars. 

 With half -spread wings he whirled and leaped about 

 the lady while every feather on her slim, blue body ex- 

 pressed infinite boredom and indifference to his pas- 

 sionate appeal. 



Ruddy sheldrakes, mallards, shoveler ducks, and teal 

 were in even the smallest ponds and avocets with sky- 

 blue legs and slender recurved bills ran along the shores 

 of a lake at which we stopped for tiffin. When we 

 had passed the last Chinese village and were well in 

 the Mongolian grasslands we had great fun shooting 

 gophers {Citellus mongolicus umbratus) from the cars. 

 It was by no means easy to kill them before they slipped 

 into their dens, and I often had to burrow like a ter- 

 rier to pull them out even when they .were almost dead. 



We got eighteen, and camped at half past four in 

 order that the taxidermists might have time to prepare 



