give him a real lesson in "Gone"--or "Flown." Instead
of being perplexed, he will then comprehend you. Should you, therefore,
during the first few days of hunting him, see birds make off in lieu of
taking him to the haunt--as many breakers erroneously do,--carefully keep
him from the spot. You cannot let him run riot over the reeking scent
without expecting him to do the same when next he finds; and if, in
compliance with your orders, he points, you are making a fool of
him--there is nothing before him; and if he does not fancy you as
bewildered as himself, he will imagine that the exhilarating effluvia he
rejoices in is the sum total you both seek. This advice, at first sight,
may appear to contradict that given in 111 and 209; but look again, and
you will find that those paragraphs referred to peculiar cases. Should
your young dog be loitering and sniffing at a haunt which he has _seen_
birds quit, he cannot well mistake the meaning of your calling out, "Gone,
gone."

FOOTNOTES:

[35] The speed with which one of these extremely beautiful, but in every
other respect far, far inferior partridges will run, when only slightly
wounded, is quite marvellous.

[36] The force of the word "Dead"--preceding the command "Find"--that
joyous, exciting note of triumph--ought never to be lessened by being
employed, as I have heard it, to stimulate a dog to hunt when no bird is
down; or, like the shepherd-boy's cry of "Wolf! wolf!" it will have little
influence at the moment when it should most animate to unremitting
exertions.

[37] In favor of such unsportsman-like haste they ingeniously argue that a
continued noise after firing makes birds lie, from attracting their
attention. They say that a sudden change to quiet--and a great change it
must be, for a _chasseur_ is always talking--alarms the birds. As an
evidence of this, they adduce the well-known fact of its frequently
happening that a partridge gets up the moment the guns have left the spot,
though no previous noise had induced it to stir.

[38] Had you lost the bird from there being but little scent, it is
probable you might have found it by renewing your search on your return
homewards in the evening. If a runner, it would most likely have rejoined
the covey.

[39] "Toho," rather than "Drop,"--your object now being to make him stand
at, and prevent his mouthing game; for you are satisfied that he would
have "down charged" had the bird been missed.

[40] Of course, w