34 FEATHEEED GAME 



the language in which you voice your benevo- 

 lent wishes for the future welfare of the invent- 

 or of that style of fence (may they be fulfilled!) 

 until he sees signs of the barbs letting go their 

 hold, when he is away like a bullet, his wings a 

 mere haze as they roar through the branches. 



Occasionally the farmer's cur is ''trained" 

 for a ''pa'tridge dawg;" that is to say, his nat- 

 ural propensities to bark and "yap" are turned 

 to some account He runs in upon the young 

 flocks, which instantly take to the trees; the 

 dog then makes such a noise with his continua^ 

 yelping and running about that the birds see 

 and hear nothing but this miserable intruder, 

 and so allow the mighty hunter to creep unob- 

 served within easy distance, maybe to take a 

 resting shot at their motionless bodies. Often 

 honest cocker spaniels are degraded by this 

 low practice. In the mind of the sportsman this 

 stands almost as high as driving a doe to water 

 and paddling a canoe alongside to blow her 

 brains out with a charge of buckshot. 



There is a widespread notion that when a 

 flock is thus ''treed" a pot-shooter may secure 

 several birds before they will take alarm and 

 fly if he will take care to shoot the lowest one 



