The herald., 1898-09-04

The rare beauty of the dogs performance
comes entirely from the fac that he has
to find the bird by scent. And as the game
Is very small, this is necessarily very deli
cate Often there is no foot scent as there
is for the hound, and the bird leaves no
scent upon the brush, as large animals do
in touching it. Even where there is foot
scent the best dogs ignore it entirely, and
depend upon cutting across the wind in such
a way as to locate the point from which
the scent comes. During the operation a
dogs motions change from mere slacken-
Ing of speed and more careful shifting of
the air to an attitude varying in a thousand
ways, but ending generally in perfect rigid
ity. The various changes from the first
breath of the tainted breeze to the certainty
that the game is hidden within few feet or
yards make the most interesting play ever
acted on natures stage.
Man has cultivated the dogs inclination
to pause a moment to locate his prey with
certainty before sprn ging on II into a dead
stop that some aogs Will maintain for
hours. When boy | had pointer that
tried several times TO sit out. l was de-
termined 10 find out how long the dog
would stand and how long the bird would
lie. but always gave it up l had another
dog that would lie down a a point when he
found l was not coming soon enough, and
after waiting, he would come back to look
for me, leaving the bird und.s turbed. About
the last thing well trained dogs Will DO is
to flush the bird purposely. and if lost on
a point in heavy cover they are not -kely
to move until the bird does, unless 1t is TO
draw off and come back.
There is little or no difference now in the
action of the pointer and setter, both stand
ing fully erect or crouching or squattiny z
sometimes, according 70 the whim Of the
animal. A setter can generally stand
briars, cold water and Ice better than the
pointer, while the pointer, with his thinner
coat, can generally stand heat better thar
the long-haired setter. But there are many
exceptions to this and the toughest sala-
mander ever saw on the prairie was a
little delicate English setter that would
whine at fence and always had to be
lifted Into the wagon. He would hunt
eagerly and point with great certainty on
days when every pointer in the field was
digging a cool place under the first shady
bush in sight.
The distance az which good dog can
smell birds with the advantage of a COOL
moist breeze blowing from the birds is quite
beyond the conception of the many who
have never seen 1t. 1t is a rare perform
ance always, as there are many dogs that
Seem Incapable Of doing it. There are many
uogs that on the prairie come 10 a pretty
certain "draw"-a point In which the birds
are not fully located. but where the doe has
no real doubt-at TWO hundlro q va rGs Three
hundred yards are quite easy for some dogs
and have seen Il dog rise in a wagon ana
point al that distance, jump out of the
wagon and crawl 200 yards further
straight toward the BIRDS and then, come
to stand that no urging could induce him
to break. And once 1 saw a dog come TO
such point On a flock Of birds on the op-
posite edge Of square forty-acre stubble
standing in the prairie grass on the other