96 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



affectionate. The black are said to be the best, but 

 they vary in colour ; their fur is quite smooth, and they 

 are considered very valuable dogs. Mr. Gilpin speaks 

 of a brace of pointers, who stood an hour and a quarter 

 without moving. This, however, was exceeded by Clio, 

 a dog belonging to my father, who stood with her hind- 

 legs upon a gate for more than two hours, with a nest 

 of partridges close to her nose. She must have seen 

 them as she jumped over the gate, and had she moved 

 an inch, they would have been frightened away. My 

 father went on, and having other dogs, did not miss 

 Clio for a long time ; at length he perceived she was 

 not with the rest, and neither came to his call or 

 whistle ; he went back to seek her, and there she stood, 

 just as she had got over the gate. His corning up dis- 

 turbed the birds, and he shot some of them ; but Clio, 

 when thus relieved, was so stiff that she could not move, 

 and her master sat down on the grass and rubbed her 

 legs till she could bend them again. She died of old 

 age, having been with us fourteen years from her birth. 

 There were no signs of illness ; and she went out in the 

 morning with the shooting party. The first question 

 on the return of the sportsmen was an inquiry for 

 Clio. Search was made, and she was found quite stiff 

 in the stable, having apparently come home to die. 



Of the general intelligence of the pointer, the follow- 

 ing is a proof. A gentleman shooting in Ireland, with 

 a dog totally unused to fetch and carry, killed a snipe. 

 It fell in soft, boggy ground, where he could not get 

 to pick it up. After some vain efforts to approach it, 

 he hied on the pointer, by saying, ' Fetch it, Fan ! fetch 

 it.' She seemed for a moment puzzled at such an un- 

 usual proceeding, and looked round inquisitively once 



