90 GAME-BIRDS AT HOME. 



yards nearer we went, with the dog slowly fol- 

 lowing. Fifty more, and the dog followed more 

 slowly. Fifty more, and he hesitated long be- 

 fore moving up to us. Another twenty yards 

 brought him to a point which he refused to 

 break in spite of all urging. When we reached 

 the edge of the grass without anything rising, the 

 dog moved slowly up. We went some twenty 

 feet into it before a bird burst from the tangle 

 of grass, almost at the feet of my companion, and 

 went curling around over the dog, falling in a 

 fluttering racket of white and brown almost upon 

 him. But the dog paid no attention to it. For 

 the next half-hour the dog did little but crawl 

 and lie down. Though the birds went like bul- 

 lets when they rose, before that they lay like 

 stones in the long grass at this time of day, de- 

 pending on hiding more than on their wings. 

 Half the time, when the dog was told to go on 

 after we had finished loading, he did nothing but 

 turn his head to one side or the other, and 

 several times he did this without rising to his 

 feet from where he had lain down at the report 

 of the gun. Several birds had fallen before we 

 could pick up a dead one, and even then we 



