NATURAL HISTORY. 



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THE POINTER. 



The POINTER is used by sportsmen to point out the spot 

 where the game lies. It ranges the fields until it scents the 

 hare or partridge lying close on the ground. It then remains 

 still as if carved in stone, every limb fixed, and the tail point- 

 ing straight behind it. In this attitude it remains until the gun 

 is discharged, reloaded, and the sportsman has reached the place 

 where the bird sprung. It then eagerly searches for the game, 

 and brings the bird in its mouth. There are many anecdotes 

 of its intelligence, among which the following is not the least 

 interesting. 



In 1829, Mr. J. Webster was out on a shooting party near 

 Dundee, when a female pointer, having traversed the field 

 which the sportsmen were then in, proceeded to a wall, and, 

 just as she made the leap, got the scent of some partridges on 

 the opposite side of the wall. She hung by her fore-feet until 

 the sportsmen came up ; in which situation, while they were 

 at some distance, it appeared to them that she had got her leg 

 fastened among the stones of the wall, and was unable to ex- 

 tricate herself. But, on coming up to her, they found that this 

 singular circumstance proceeded from her caution, lest she 

 should flush the birds, and thus suspended herself in place of 

 completing her leap. 



