WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



now and then that we might keep up with him; at last he 

 came to the foot of a rock where the stag was lying quite 

 dead with his throat torn open, and marks of a goodly 

 struggle all round the place; a fine deer he was too, and 

 much praise did the dog get for his courage and skill: I 

 believe I could have sold him on the spot at anyprice which 

 I had chosen to ask, but the dog and I were too old friends 

 to part, having passed many years together, both in Lon- 

 don, where he lived with my horses and used to run with 

 my cab, occasionally taking a passing fight with a cat ; and 

 also in the country, where he had also accompanied me in 

 many a long and solitary ramble over mountain and valley. 



In choosing a young dog for a retriever, it is agreat point 

 to fix upon one whose ancestors have been in the same line 

 of business. Skill and inclination tobecome a goodretriever 

 are hereditary, and one come of good parents scarcely re- 

 quires any breaking, taking to it naturally as soon as he can 

 run about. It is almost impossible to make some dogs use- 

 ful in this way, no teaching will do it unless there be a nat- 

 ural inclination — a first rate retriever nascttur nonfit. You 

 may break almost any dog to carry a rabbit or bird, but it 

 is a different thing entirely to retrieve satisfactorily, or to 

 be uniformly correct in distinguishing and sticking to the 

 scent of the animal which is wounded. 



In the same way pointing is hereditary in pointers and 

 setters, and puppies of a good breed, and of a well educated 

 ancestry, take to pointing at game as naturally as to eating 

 their food, — and not only do they, of their own accord, 

 point steadily, butalso back each other, quarter theirground 

 regularly, and in fact instinctively follow the e.xample of 



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