14 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



presence. The dogs, too, knew our inability and 

 felt proud of our reliance on them. And when 

 at last they settled to unwavering firmness and 

 from before them rose lines of brown mingled 

 with white and ashy blue and spots of black, 

 with a haze on either side made by whizzing 

 wings, all spinning at tremendous speed for the 

 timber, it mattered little whether we had a gun 

 or not. Many a mile, before the law permitted 

 shooting, have I roamed without a gun to see 

 that sight, and many a mile would I go to-day 

 to see it once more. 



There was deep satisfaction, too, in being the 

 victim of that trick of Bob's, withholding scent. 

 Whether he did it voluntarily or not was all 

 the same; and when we had tramped and re- 

 tramped the exact spot on which we saw a dozen 

 birds alight, and the noses lately so keen had 

 swept almost every inch of it without finding 

 more than a bird or two and perhaps none, our 

 disappointment was mingled with pleasure in 

 having a genius to cope with. And there was 

 no half-hour more pleasant than that we spent 

 whistling an occasional imitation of his soft 

 autumn call and \\>aiting for him to move. 



