Newport weekly independent., 1903-04-17
THE DOG AND THE SCENT.
An Exhibition of Trailing Power That May We'll De COnsi dered
 Unique.

Unique.
 The power of a good dogs nose va ries. On dry day when the grass stems are covered with fine dust and 1 the tiny particles have settled on weeds and briars it is much decreased. The | dust gets into she nostrils and causes | sneezing, and the mucus deadens the nerves. Sportsmen say then that the | scent will not lie, says the New York | Sun.
 On muggy day, when vegetation is | damp, the scent holds for surprising | time and pointer or setter has no trouble in following. Dogs are often | puzzled by it's strength and will fol- l low trail that is too old to produce 1 anything.
 On such days dogs with highly seusi- tive nostrils have been known to work | cautiously along such trail, believing the bevy to be within few yards and finally come to a rigid stand, though the birds had passed that way an hour | before and were then a mile away. This was proved by the dogs sticking | steadily to the scent and finally rout- ing them out.
 l Mary, white and black setter gyp owned in Lafayette county, Ark, gave an exhibition of following power not | long ago that is thought to be unique
 She was out with D. " Lewis. a sport ing planter, who owns her, beating the edge of field that had green spring grass mingled with the old and fur nished good deal of cover.
 There had been a slight rain about daylight and everything was soggy. She came hard down in a buttonhook | point, her nose withina foot of clump of grass as big as a bushel basket. Lewis went forward and kicked the clump and single cock quail flushed. | He waited on the bird until it was 30 yards away, missed it with the right
 barrel and knocked it down with the left. The quail fell on long weaving slant, showing that it was only winged, and Mary was sent forward to get it. | The birds course had been parallel with the edge of the field and 50 yards away.
 She did not find it where it fell and l 1 lowed to the rail fence, whose corners were grown up in briars, and went down it, working her way through the briars for quite 100 yards. Then she struck off int 70 the woods.
 Lewis climbed the fence and went after her. The ground was covered with wet, dead leaves which had lasted | through the winter. Two hundred yards in a small branch or creek was struck. The dog went down one bank a little way and lost the trail. l Crossing, she ran up and down the other bank and struck the trail again, | taking it up 20 feet from the water. She was much excited by this time and was going fast. The man went with
 her, much more interested in her work than in getting the bird.
 | The trail ran out into the woods, curved, came back to the creek, crossed it again and then went to the field, en- tering it quarter of a mile from it's point of exit. A hundred yards from
 the fence Mary stopped with her nose
 within an inch of the ground | Going forward Lewis found her to be | pointing a hole in the ground bigger | around than his arm, made originally
 by mouse and widened by rains. He did not care to stick his hand in it, since for all he knew it might harbor a snake, yet he did not wish the dog to go unrewarded.
 Finally he pulled on glove and thrust in his arm to the shoulder. He
 took hold of the quail and dragged it
 out. Then he examined it. The bird
 had been wing-tipped only, which is
 to say that the extreme point of it's
 right wing had been broken by sin gle pellet.
 Lewis did queer thing for shot
 gun man. He showed the bird to Mary,
 rubbing it back and forth across so
 that she might get the scent, which
 was to her sweeter than altar of roses.
 Then he broke toothpick In two and with some thread bound it to the bro ken bone, joining the ends neatly and
 wrapping it rounG and round, bringing
 the thread down between the feathers
 He made a neat job of it and threw
 the quail in air It buzzed away as if
 nothing was the matter If the tooth
 pick held for few days, and doubtless
 it did, the bird got well.