e not _now_ well instructed, you must expect
him to lose, season after season, nearly every bird only slightly disabled
by a merely tipped wing.

218. I hope you will not say, as would most of our neighbors[37] on the
other side of the Channel: "But if, instead of waiting to load, I had gone
after the winged bird just as it fell, when first I saw it start off
running, the evil you have now spoken of--215--could not have occurred,
for there would have been but little risk of losing it." Probably not, but
you would almost have ruined your dog; and to secure this one bird, in all
likelihood you would subsequently lose a hundred.[38] How could you with
justice blame him if, when next you killed, he rushed headlong after the
bird--instead of dropping patiently to the "down charge"--and so sprung a
dozen birds while you were unloaded?

219. Perhaps you will say, "You tell me to fire at a running bird, but
when a winged cock-pheasant or red-legged partridge is racing off _out of
shot_, how am I to get it if I proceed in the slow, methodical manner you
advise? May it not lead me an unsuccessful dance for an hour, if I do not
allow the dog to shoot ahead and seize?" It may--but I hope months will
pass before you witness such agility--and this shows that those who do not
employ a retriever, and yet are sticklers for a setter's--or
pointer's--never being permitted to touch a feather, must on such
occasions get into a dilemma; and, unless they are willing to lose the
bird, must plead guilty to the inconsistency of being pleased--however
loudly they may roar out "Toho," "ware dead,"--when they see their dog, in
defiance of all such calls, disable it by a sudden grip. This plan, though
frequently followed, cannot be correct. They blame the dog for doing what
they really wish! and if he be too tender-mouthed to injure the bird, he
keeps them at top speed, while he is alternately picking up the
unfortunate creature--acting on his natural impulses--and letting it fall,
on being rated. I therefore repeat, that even if you do not wish your dog
constantly to retrieve--292--you would still act judiciously in teaching
him as a puppy to fetch--86--for then he will give chase to the winged
bird, and bring it to you _on getting the order_, instead of permitting
it to escape for a fresh _burst_, or carrying it off, as I have seen done.
You thus maintain discipline. The dog will do what you wish, in obedience
to orders,--not in opposition to orde