312 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



presence, is not the Clumber' s sphere. To appreciate them 

 at the full, one must see them silently questing for their 

 game. I am of the firm belief that there is no prettier sight 

 than a team of good Clumbers stealing ghost-like through 

 forest or covert. Not a sound is to be heard save now and 

 then the breaking of the omnipresent dry twig. Mark to 

 the right ! Drake is feathering. Nell, too, has caught 

 the scent. Johnny, who has been questing to the ex- 

 treme left, now comes up to them, and by his manner at 

 once betrays the proximity of the game. The bodies now 

 are sunk until they seem to sweep the ground; they look to 

 have no legs. Their heads point toward some matted, 

 fallen hemlocks, and with every now and then a backward 

 glance, for fear of advancing too quickly for the gun, 

 they swiftly steal along. Now they are within a yard 

 of the grouse's lair, and their aspects change. With a 

 bound and a frantic waving of sterns, they are in. Whir-r ! 

 A line old cock is flushed at once. Bang ! One down. 

 Whir-r ! Whir-r ! Two more up, and only one barrel 

 charged ! A hen this time presents the easier shot, and to 

 the report drops, but only wing-tipped. 



No more birds being there to flush, the dogs are on the 

 alert to retrieve whatever may fall. If two birds or more 

 are down, both Johnny and Drake retrieve, the others not 

 being allowed to interfere, though if given an opportunity 

 they will retrieve with alacrity. In this instance Drake 

 brings in the dead cock, while Johnny pursues the runner. 



Flying and running together, a wing- tipped grouse can 

 encompass space with marvelous celerity, and the object of 

 Johnny's pursuit is not an exception to the general rule. 

 The bird doubles and twists in its efforts to escape, thereby 

 causing the heavy dog to lose ground; but its wiles are of 

 no avail, and soon he grasps it by the wing, the prisoner 

 administering heavy punishment about his head with the 

 free one, and brings it to bag. 



From this a conception of the Clumber's manner of land 

 work may be had, and surely every sportsman will admit 

 that such silence and stealth in the pursuit of game is a 



