r pupil,--when a pointer--or setter--in goodly turnips
or strong potatoes draws upon birds which obligingly rise one after the
other, while by continuing his eloquent attitude he assures you that some
still remain unsprung, to which he is prepared to lead you if you will but
attend to them and him, and, instead of pot-hunting after those you have
killed, wait until his discriminating nose informs him that, having no
more strangers to introduce, he is at liberty to assist you in your
search.

189. To revert, however, to the point particularly under discussion, viz.,
whether you prefer that your dog go direct to the fallen bird, or--as I
strongly recommend--that he first join you, pray be consistent, exact
which you will, but always exact the same, if you are anxious to obtain
cheerful unhesitating obedience.

190. I have seen the advantage of the latter method very strikingly
exemplified in America, in parts of which there is capital
snipe-shooting.[33] In the high grass and rushes on the banks of the
Richelieu, many a bird have I seen flushed and shot at, of which the liver
and white pointer, ranging at a little distance, has known nothing. As he
was well broken in, on hearing the report of the gun, he, of course,
dropped instantly. His master, when he had reloaded, if the bird had
fallen, used invariably to say "Dead,"[34] in a low tone of voice, on
which the dog would _go up to him_; and then his master, without stirring
from the spot where he had fired, directed him by signals to the place
where the bird had tumbled, and in proceeding thither, the dog often had
to swim the stream. His master then said "Find." At that word, and not
before it, his intelligent four-footed companion commenced the search for
the bird, nor did he ever fail to find and bring; and so delicate was his
mouth that I have often seen him deliver up a bird perfectly alive,
without having deranged a feather, though, very probably, he had swam with
it across one of the many creeks which intersect that part of the country.
If the shot was a miss, his master's silence after reloading, and a wave
of his arm to continue hunting--or the command to "Hie on," if the dog was
hidden by the rushes--perhaps a low whistle would have been better,--fully
informed his companion of the disappointment. He was quite as good on the
large quail, and small wood-cock found in Canada, which latter makes a
ringing noise on rising, not unlike the sound of a distant soft bel