BREAKING AND HANDLING. 



CHAPTER X. 



POINTING. 



Some of the commonest powers of organic beings are the 

 most wonderful in nature, yet their commonness and the 

 resulting familiarity reduce them to the level of the mat- 

 ter-of-course. Of these, none are more marvelous than the 

 faculty which the pointer or setter exhibits in pursuing his 

 prey by the delicacy of his scenting powers. The pres- 

 sure of tiny feet for the briefest instant leaves an impalpable 

 roadway which the dog follows with ease. So exquisitely 

 keen is this function of smell that he readily discriminates 

 between the direction taken by the birds and the back track, 

 and between the body scent and foot scent. Also, by some 

 difference in the intensity or quality of the scent, he can 

 accurately determine his distance from the birds when he 

 is on a hot foot scent or body scent, and can distinguish that 

 of a dead or live bird. 



Pointing, standing and setting are terms used synony- 

 mously to denote the peculiar, rigid attitude of pointers and 

 setters when in the act of standing near birds of which they 

 have the scent, although the act may be imperfect at times 

 from pointing falsely, or on the foot scent. The style and 

 intensity of the act varies greatly in different individuals; 

 some are rigid and statuesque, others are slouchy or indiffer- 

 ent; and there are all kinds and degrees of variations be- 

 tween the best and poorest acts. 



The two breeds, pointers and setters, do not materially 



