and feet thickly feathered. Their flight much resembles that
of golden plover, only sharper.

Having finished shooting, my gun was again placed in the cart and we
started leisurely for home, I riding a short distance in advance,
followed by the second mafoo, while my pointer rambled over the grass.
One evening, when thus returning, two medium-sized eagles swooped at
the dog and commenced to regularly hunt him, much to his
consternation. To dismount and get my gun out of its case again was
the work of a couple of minutes, when I shot one of the birds at a
distance of twenty yards, the other, instead of being alarmed,
immediately swooping at its fallen comrade, to meet with a similar
fate.

I could not get them stuffed, so had their wings and claws mounted as
fans, which I still have somewhere in my possession.

The common deer are small, from thirty to forty pounds in weight, and
without horns. They have a thick, bristly hide, and the buck has two
tusks of from two to four inches in length projecting downwards from
the upper jaw, with which he tears up the ground in search of roots,
and it is to these peculiarities that the name of "hog-deer" is due.
They mostly lie in the grass on forms, like hares, but sometimes in
thick scrub on the hillside, and can be knocked over at forty yards
with pheasant shot. I have bagged four in a day more than once. If
well cooked the venison is delicious.

Partridges are only found in certain districts. A few miles from
Chefoo excellent sport is to be had, but in Central China they are not
often seen, although they do exist, as I have shot one myself near
Ngankin. Down south the bamboo partridge abounds in places, but it is
a very different bird from the ordinary partridge, and takes its name
from the fact that it lives, moves and has its being in bamboo
coppices.

In the vicinity of Hongkong and Macao the partridge, although far from
numerous, is quite common, and a bag of three or four would represent
a good day's work. These birds resemble the red-legged variety so
common in England, but are considerably larger, while the plumage,
although practically identical in colour, is far more brilliant. A
curious feature about them is that they are never flushed in coveys
and very rarely in pairs, but are almost invariably single birds,
which fact, together with their large size and gorgeous plumage, leads
me to think that they must represent a distinct branch of the family,
to which the