68 FEATHERED GAME 



from the spot on which it has alighted thus re- 

 duces its body scent to a minimum and leaves 

 no footscent to assist its enemy? The best of 

 dogs may sometimes walk straight through a 

 covey thus hidden and unless some frightened 

 bird stirs or breaks away he has little chance 

 of discovering their presence. Whether the 

 bird is voluntarily '^witholding its scent" or 

 is merely making itself as small as possible in 

 order to avoid detection in this hugging the 

 feathers down is an open question. There is 

 no doubt that dogs are sometimes unaccount- 

 ably at fault in such cases. I have seen some- 

 thing similar in the woodcock covers, when a 

 woodcock, killed cleanly in the air and fallen 

 into a slight hollow in the ground, its wings 

 folded close to its sides, head and beak under- 

 neath, has made a good dog some minutes' 

 work to locate it. But when with the gunbar- 

 rels the bird was stirred ever so slightly, the 

 dog hunting fifteen yards away, puzzled and 

 totally at loss, wheeled to a point on the instant 

 and came quickly in and retrieved the bird. 

 Even the ruffed grouse gets credit for the same 

 thing in less measure, because she is very care- 

 ful in her manner of approaching and leaving 



