of which were either
extirpated, dragged off in the rebel army or fled to other parts of
the country. These abandoned fields, interspersed with ridges of low
hills clad with young pines, are generally dry and covered with fine
grass, in which the pheasants are fond of lying, and on a bright,
frosty morning it is truly delightful to walk across such country with
a couple of good pointers, watch your dogs work and bowl over the
birds as they rise.

At other places higher up river the low hills are covered with
acorn-bearing oak scrub, a favourite cover both for pheasants, which
feed on the acorns, as well as deer. This scrub, although very trying
to walk through, is not high enough to prevent pointers working
freely, and many a good bag have I made there.

Along the banks of the lower Yangtse, and on numerous islands in the
stream, are dense reeds, which, being flooded to a depth of several
feet in summer, grow from fifteen to twenty feet high, as thick as a
man's thumb, and almost as strong as bamboos. In these impenetrable
thickets, left dry as the waters fall in autumn, the pheasants
congregate in great numbers, but it is not till late winter, when the
reeds have been mostly cut for fuel, that it is possible to get them
out. About the end of December the reeds still uncut, stand in square,
even patches, the sides of which tower up like the walls of a house.
The best way is to select clumps of medium size, place a gun on either
side to keep well in advance, and turn two or three dogs, spaniels for
choice, in at one end. As these dogs hunt the reeds all the way down,
the pheasants will creep to the very edges, watch their opportunity,
and be off like cannon balls. Then is the time for a quick eye and
steady hand, but as you have probably been running to keep up with the
dogs, they are by no means the easy shots that one might imagine, and
many a time the "dead certainty" has slipped gaily away.

Other denizens of these swamps are woodcock, snipe, deer, and
occasionally racoons and wild cats, which follow the pheasants, so
that a mixed bag is frequently the product of a successful day, when
twenty-five head, including seven or eight brace of pheasants, would
represent a fair average per gun. With the exception of spring snipe,
enormous totals like those we gloat over in England are but rarely
made. It is the absolute freedom which is so charming, the hard work,
the bright atmosphere, the thick cover, and the excitement