496 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
must set himself at the start, so that all his muscles 
would co-ordinate to accomplish it. This pause, so 
useful in the dog’s natural efforts to secure a food 
supply, serves a double purpose in such attempt: it 
enables him to locate the birds accurately before mak- 
ing the final spring to capture, and it enables him to 
spring powerfully and accurately. Sometimes, withal, 
the dog makes a false estimate, and springs wide of 
the mark, thus totally failing in his attempt. 
The point, however, does not always indicate the 
presence of game. Under such conditions the act is 
called a false point, and it may be a rarity in the field 
work of a dog, or it may be of frequent occurrence, 
or may happen irregularly. A dog which habitually 
false points is next to worthless for field work. 
The fault is displayed by some dogs under unfavorable 
weather conditions, which affect the scent. The ma- 
jority of dogs will false point when fagged out or 
when stale from overwork, day after day. There is 
no cure for habitual false pointing. It probably is 
the result of a faulty brain or nose, or both combined, 
or, it may be, of overcaution. 
The standard of field work is precisely alike for 
pointers and setters. In their methods of work, natu- 
ral or acquired, there are no particular differences 
which can properly be classed as peculiar exclusively 
to either breed. Yet each pointer or setter, in per- 
forming identical tasks, may have his own individual 
methods and mannerisms, no two dogs working or 
planning alike, just as no two men think or act pre- 
