which
I must have done, had I too hastily concluded the purchase,--I ought to
have sent home the other dogs, and proceeded, but with greater severity,
much in the manner described in 220 and 222. I ought not, however, to have
gone after him when first he bolted; I ought merely to have endeavored to
check him with my voice, for it would have been most important to set him
a good example by remaining immovable myself, and he might have
misconstrued any hasty advance on my part into rivalship for possession of
the bird; in short, into a repetition of one of the many scrambles to
which he had recently been accustomed, and in which I feel sure he must
invariably have come off victorious. I ought, when loaded, to have walked
calmly up to him, and, without taking the slightest notice of the
disfigured bird, have dragged him back, while loudly rating him, to the
spot where he should have "down charged." After a good flagellation--a
protracted lecture--and a long delay,--the longer the better,--I ought to
have made him cautiously approach the bird; and by a little scolding, and
by showing him the wounds he had inflicted, have striven to make him
sensible and ashamed of his enormities. Probably, too, had the birds lain
well, the moment he pointed I should have employed the checkcord[44] with
a spike, giving him a liberal allowance of slack line--234. Had I thus
treated him throughout the day, I have little doubt but that he would have
become a reformed character; though an occasional outbreak might not
unreasonably have been expected. See 205 to 208.

261. To create a feeling of self-dependence, obviously there is no better
plan than for a considerable time to take out the dog by himself, and thus
force him to trust for sport to his own unaided powers; and when he is at
length hunted in company, never to omit paying him the compliment of
attending to every indication he evinces of being upon birds, even
occasionally to the unfair neglect of confirmed points made by the other
dogs.

262. I conceive those dogs must be considered the _best_ which procure a
persevering sportsman most shots in a season and lose him fewest winged
birds.[45] If you are anxious for your pupil to attain this superlative
excellence,--I will repeat it, at the risk of being accused of
tautology,--you must be at all times consistently strict but never severe.
Make him as much as you can, your constant companion; you will thereby
much develope his intelligenc