e dog be taught to point until ordered to "fetch,"
and chance to point a live bird before finding the dead, he will _flush_
the live bird on being ordered to "fetch" the dead. I admit that there
_is_ a difference of scent at all times to the best nosed dogs, but very
faint, even to the best, in bad scenting weather; but that difference will
more easily make the dog refuse to flush a live bird, if he do point
before fetching, than make him pause to point a live one, if allowed to
rush in upon dead ones. The only rule that will keep a dog always up to
his business is, that he shall always "_point_" every game bird or animal
he comes upon, dead or living, and always "_drop_," when it runs or rises,
whether a shot be fired or not. I have always shot over dogs broken to
point before fetching. I have often been deceived in supposing a fresh
bird newly pointed to be the killed one, but have always found my dogs to
hesitate so distinctly, before obeying the order to "_fetch_," as to make
it evident that I was in error, and allow me to correct it.

For the better comprehension of the above admirable treatise on breaking,
I wish to add, for the benefit of the American sportsmen, that, wherever
Col. Hutchinson speaks of the partridge, it is the English bird which he
intends, which, in its habits, is closely analogous to our quail; and that
all his precepts as to breaking on partridge hold good precisely for the
quail with us. In the same way all his precepts for grouse-shooting apply,
letter for letter, to our prairie-fowl-shooting; and his precepts for
pheasant-shooting to the hunting and shooting of our ruffed grouse, called
in the northern states the partridge, and in the southern and western the
pheasant. When he speaks of the rabbit as distinct from the hare, he
alludes to a European animal which does not exist in America, the original
stock of the tame rabbit, which has the habit of burrowing in the ground
and dwelling in great communities, known as warrens. We have two kinds of
hare, the small one commonly known as the rabbit, and the large Canadian
hare, which turns white in winter; but no genuine rabbit. Hutchinson's
rules as to breaking, in regard to the English hares and rabbits, hold
good of both our varieties.

I will only say farther, that when he speaks of shooting in turnips or
potatoes, we may apply his rules to any tall-growing vegetable covert,
such as clover, rag weed, wild meadow-grass, or the like, those crops