WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 49 



Brittany in point of scent. It carries in its long grass and heather 

 both a foot and a side scent ; while the humid air is highly favour- 

 able to its long duration on the soil or vegetation with which the 

 game has come into contact. It is no exaggeration to say that I 

 have seen a Brittany pointer, when down wind, find a covey of 

 birds, feeding on green wheat, at least five hundred yards up-wind 

 from the spot at which he first winded them. On the present 

 occasion it was a grand treat to witness the way in which a fine 

 old-fashioned dog, called Mars, found his birds at certainly that, if 

 not a greater distance. With nose high in air (the Brittany 

 pointers never rake), he stepped along, straight as a crow would 

 fly, across a large field, stood a moment on the bank, drew rapidly 

 across the next, again stood on the bank, crossed a third and a 

 fourth field ; and at length, on the top of the fifth bank, came to a 

 fixed point, his head erect, his tail level with his back, and 

 his whole attitude worthy of Phidias' chisel. A covey of red- 

 legs were lying close hid in the buckwheat stubble not twenty 

 yards from his nose. Keryfan got a brace ; but, as I was some- 

 what blown by the exertion of following the dog, my foot slipped 

 at the fence, and before I could recover myself the birds were out 

 of range. 



I was not, however, doomed to disappointment ; for in less 

 than two minutes Kergoorlas' hat was waving steadily downwards; 

 and we soon learned from the signal that the covey had dropped 

 in a thick hanging cover in the vale below us. Thither we quickly 

 sped, and had only just time to mount the bank commanding the 

 wood, when Mars and Dian began to draw, and almost imme- 

 diately came to a steady point within. a few yards of the fence. 

 Both dogs had been trained to break point when encouraged to do 

 so, and Keryfan's one word was quite sufficient to send them 

 headforemost into the dense mass of gorse, bramble, and scrub 

 wherein the birds had taken refuge. At once there was a whirr, 



