CHAPTER II. 



DOGS. 



§11. A GOOD DOG is one of the most faithful, respectful, 

 affectionate and sensible of brutes ; deference to such rare 

 qualities demands a chapter, however brief. A trained dog is 

 the indispensable servant of the sportsman in his pursuit of 

 most kinds of game ; but I trust I am gviilty of no discourtesy 

 to the noble animal, when I say that he is a luxury rather than 

 a necessity to the collector — a pleasant companion, who knows 

 almost everything except how to talk, who converses with his 

 ej^es and ears and tail, shares comforts and discomforts with 

 equal alacrity, and occasionally makes himself useful. So 

 far as a collector's work tallies with that of a sportsman, the 

 dog is equallj^ useful to both ; but finding and telling of game 

 aside, your dog's services are restricted to companionship and 

 retrieving. He maj^, indeed, flush many sorts of birds for 

 you ; but he does it, if at all, at random, while capering 

 about ; for the brute intellect is limited after all, and cannot 

 comprehend a naturalist. The best trained setter or pointer 

 that ever marked a quail could not be made to understand 

 what 3'ou are about, and it would ruin him for sporting pur- 

 poses if he did. Take a well-bred, high-toned dog out with 

 3^ou, and the chances are he will soon trot home in disgust 

 at your performances with jack-sparrows and tomtits. It 

 implies such a lowering and perversion of a good dog's in- 

 stincts to make him really a useful servant of yours, that I am 

 half inclined to say nothing about retrieving, and tell you to 

 make a companion of your dog, or let him alone. I was 

 followed for several years by " the best dog I ever saw" (every 

 one's gun, dog, and child is the best ever seen), and a first- 

 rate retriever ; yet I always preferred, when practicable, to 

 pick up my own birds, rather than let a delicate plumage into 

 a dog's mouth, and scolded away the poor brute so often, 

 that she very properl}^ returned the compliment, in the end, by 



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