OTTER HUNTING, FALCONRY, SHOOTING 141 



the quay, and jumped into the yacht gig directly it came 

 alongside. This could hardly be a case of scent. 



" This Nellie several times brought me two partridges 

 together, and on one occasion a hare and a partridge. 

 Here, in our shrubberies, Nellie would often ' tree ' a 

 cat, and give me notice by a low bark, quite different 

 from her usual note or ' mark ' at a rabbit in its 

 burrow. If I took no notice, she would soon come to 

 me with all her hackles up, and growl, wagging her stern 

 all the time. I once knocked down a woodcock in pretty 

 thick covert, and sent her to fetch it. She was a long 

 time away, and came back without it, but she looked 

 into my face, evidently anxious to tell me something. 

 I tried her again, but she would not move till I pushed 

 into the thorns myself, when she yapped with pleasure, 

 and went gently ahead of me through the thick stuff, 

 stopping at last and looking upwards, with her stern 

 going. I looked up into the trees and bushes, but could 

 see nothing for a time, till at last I caught sight of the 

 tip of wing projecting from a broken stump at about four 

 feet from the ground, and found my woodcock caught 

 thereon. In this case, I feel sure that she had seen, 

 not scented, the bird. Many a time she left me to go 

 to a distance, and pick up a bird that she had watched 

 till it fell, in many cases when I did not know of its 

 being wounded. Peace to her ashes, and a truce to this 

 long yarn." ' 



^ To T. Buckley, Esq. 



