1 1 2 O'er Crag and Torrent 



when Quail stops dead and slowly sinks 

 down. Rake comes rushing along, but a 

 sharp whistle and upheld hand checks him 

 instantly, and catching sight of Quail's head, 

 and perhaps winding the birds at the same 

 moment, he becomes rigid as a graven image. 

 We both walk up, and a splendid lot of birds 

 about fifteen or sixteen get up. I get a 



brace, and B killing his first bird turns 



on another, and just as he pulls the trigger 

 another bird crosses the one he is aiming at, 

 and down comes both. Both my birds were 

 gathered, and then I witnessed a real clever 

 performance on old Darkie's part. We went 



straight to where B 's first bird fell, 



picked it up, carried it across to where the 

 other two birds fell, and after making a cast 

 or two, found them and brought all three 

 together two by their necks and one by the 



wing to B 's hand. I had heard of 



several instances where retrievers had done 



