1 40 A Book of the Snipe. 



of Don, even if the brown eyes twinkling 

 with enjoyment above are the wisest and 

 most beautiful of any that beam from the 

 head of created beast. Nothing can beat a 

 spaniel for this work, if (and it is an im- 

 portant if) one can be obtained which does 

 not chase, which will keep to heel, which 

 does not whine or yelp with excitement, which 

 does not maul the game about when retrieving 

 it, or will not devour it altogether when out of 

 sight of his master ! Given a good spaniel, 

 with few or none of these deficiencies, you 

 have a hardy, absolutely untirable little fellow 

 who can go anywhere, who simply revels 

 in cold and wet so long as the halts are 

 not over long, and to whom rough sport 

 with the gun is a perfect monomania, — who 

 possesses, besides, the most delightfully com- 

 panionable qualities when both he and gun 

 are off duty for a while. 



Of spaniels perhaps the Irish variety — in 

 reality no true spaniel at all, by the v/ay — is 

 the best, a quaint creature rejoicing in a 

 whimsical expression and an absurd-looking 



