204 MODERN TRAINING. 



CHAPTER XII. 



ROADING AND DRAWING. 



Reading is the act of following the trail of the birds, 

 with more or less quickness by the foot scent. 



Drawing is the act of approaching the birds by the body 

 scent. This manner of determining the location of the birds 

 is commonly performed with much greater quickness and 

 precision than by reading. Dogs which can draw in a su- 

 perior manner, will scent birds at astonishingly long dis- 

 tances under favorable conditions of wind and temperature. 

 Sometimes at a distance of several hundred yards they will 

 draw straight, or nearly so, to a bevy, at full or half speed, 

 with nose high in the air. There are dogs which perform 

 poorly after this manner as after any other manner. The 

 brilliant performers are not common; if a sportsman has 

 not had an extensive experience with many fine dogs over 

 a large territory, he may have hunted during a long life with- 

 out having seen one which performed in a brilliant manner. 



A dog which locates his birds by the body scent, prob- 

 ably does so in a less degree than is commonly supposed. 

 Undoubtedly he has the power of recognizing the foot scent 

 and discriminating between it and the body scent; and at 

 times, can draw to large bevies by the body scent alone. 

 The writer believes that a dog of this kind is not guided 

 alone by the body scent in the greater number of instances. 

 It is more reasonable to suppose that he follows the aggre- 

 gate scent of all the tracks as if they were one trail, having 



