POINT SHOOTING. 409 



yards In front of the blind. It had gone through 

 the ice and did not reappear. The dog sent out 

 seemed disposed to cross the ice to the opposite marsh, 

 but, called back, found the hole through which the duck 

 had gone, but not the duck, though it was evident that 

 he smelt it. He made several casts about the hole, but 

 did not catch any scent, and then went back toward the 

 hole, but when 3 or 4 feet from it stopped, looked 

 at the ice and began to scratch. In a moment or two 

 he had made a small hole through the thin and soft ice, 

 and, quickly enlarging it, put his mouth down into 

 the water, pulled out the duck, and brought it to shore. 

 I believe his finding the duck — which had evidently had 

 life enough to swim a little way under the ice — was 

 pure accident; he happened to see it; but his digging 

 the hole in the ice showed wisdom. 



These dogs have keen noses. They follow unerringly 

 the trail of a duck through the thick cane, and can trail 

 a crippled duck that has gone ashore on the marsh to 

 the spot where he landed by the scent that his body 

 leaves on the water. I have seen this done many times. 

 They understand perfectly the live decoy ducks, and 

 swim to and fro past them without in the least regard- 

 ing them, though the decoys do not seem to like it if the 

 dog comes too close to them, and splash and quack at 

 a great rate until he has gone by. 



If properly trained, I imagine that these dogs are the 

 best retrievers in the world ; but often they are not well 

 trained. Some dogs will bring the duck to shore and 

 then drop it, leaving the boatman to go out and bring 



