DUCK-SHOOTING. 371 



have seen them dive for a wounded duck, and they 

 seem to have an adaptation for this shooting, devel- 

 oped perhaps by generations of training, which no 

 other dogs possess. On. one occasion I remember 

 taking out a pup for the second time that he had 

 ever been shot over. He was so eager that I had to 

 tie him in the blind, and only let him loose after a 

 bird had been shot down. Yet on that day I saw 

 him recover a wounded duck after following him 

 half a mile, twice drop a dead one which he had in 

 his mouth, to bring a live one, and jump on another 

 and hold him with his paws till he could reach him 

 by putting his head entirely under water. The 

 wonderful instances of intelligence reported of this 

 breed would be incredible, if something only a little 

 less astonishing were not known to every man who 

 has owned one. 



On this occasion I did not have my dog, and 

 much was the time and many the duck I lost in 

 consequence. It seemed as though most of those 

 which were killed dead, fell into the marsh where I 

 could not find the half of them, and that the 

 wounded fell into the open water, whence they made 

 their way to cover, before I could run the boat out 

 and pick them up. The sun was shining brightly 

 from a cloudless heaven, and although the air was 

 cold, I was so sheltered by the reeds that I was 

 as warm as I desired to be. That is one of the 

 points of superiority of inland over battery shoot- 

 ing ; had I been lying in the battery with the same 

 wind, no amount of sun would have kept me warm. 



