hat hunting term,--and make him take a large circuit, and so
head the bird, and then proceed as if it had fallen to windward.

213. The latter plan would avoid all risk of your making him a potterer,
and it is, I think, to be recommended, if you find him naturally inclined
to hunt low. But the former method, as a lesson in "footing," must be
often resorted to, that he may learn unhesitatingly to distinguish the
"heel" from the "toe," and how to push an old cock-grouse, or to flush a
pheasant running through cover, or the red-legged, I was nearly saying,
the everlasting-legged partridge;[35] and, indeed, generally, how to draw
upon his birds, and with confidence lead you to a shot, when they are upon
the move and running down wind.--See end of 98; and for further
directions, and for "seeking dead" with two dogs, look at 296. The heavy
Spanish pointer, from his plodding perseverance and great olfactory
powers, was an excellent hand at retrieving a slightly injured bird on a
broiling, bad scenting day.

214. When I advised you--180--to let the dog "have plenty of time to make
out the bird," I spoke from personal experience, and from a vivid
recollection of errors committed in my novitiate. A young hand is too apt
to imagine that every bird which falls to his gun is killed outright, and
lying dead on the spot where it fell. He will, therefore, often
impatiently, and most injudiciously, call away the dog who, at a little
distance, may have hit-off the trail of the winged bird, and be "footing"
it beautifully.

215. If in these lessons you should lose one or two wounded birds, though
it might not be a matter of any moment to yourself personally, it would be
extremely vexatious on the dog's account, because, in this early stage of
his education, it would tend to discourage him. The feeling which you must
anxiously foster in him is this, that after the word "find"[36] the
search must never be relinquished, even though he be constrained to hunt
from morning till night. And it is clear that to make an abiding, valuable
impression, this lesson must be inculcated on the several first occasions
with unremitting, untiring diligence.

216. Persevere, therefore, for an hour, rather than give up a wounded
bird. Join in the search yourself. Even if you see where it lies, do not
pick it up hastily. On the contrary, leave it, but mark well the spot.
Keep on the move. Hold your gun as if in expectation of a rise. Pretend to
seek for the