Dogs, 1 3 1 



continually forced to ''step short," if not to 

 stop altogether, by a sluggish maundering 

 dog. I have occasionally, when out with a 

 beast of this sort, been goaded into going 

 ahead and leaving the poor chap conscien- 

 tiously quartering the ground far behind me. 

 It is no use being angry with an animal 

 afflicted with the slows ; it should be got 

 rid of as soon as possible, or kept for 

 young partridges in September. The faults 

 of setters are usually of an opposite char- 

 acter. Headstrong and wilful, they will 

 disappear more often in front of you than 

 behind, and their very speed makes them 

 all the more exasperating when it is not 

 restrained by absolute subservience to the 

 gun. A flashy false - pointing brute is a 

 terrible trial to the temper, though I would 

 never despair of a dog at once which de- 

 veloped these vices only at his first entry 

 to snipe. Neither pointers nor setters seem 

 to take kindly to snipe at first. Many a dog 

 which was the pride of the grouse-moor or 

 stubble seems suddenly to become a perfect 



