lis FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



charging ; that one insists on his dog pointing his dead birds 

 before fetching them ; another suffers his to go on and fetch as 

 soon as he has loaded ; and yet a third takes no heed at all, but 

 suffers his brute to rush in as soon as the gun is discharged. 



The last is, of course, a barbarism, to which no one worthy 

 of being called a sportsman will resort ; the others are still held 

 to be mooted points ; and there are sportsmen who hold to both. 

 I do not myself admit any doubt on the subject ; nor do I esteem 

 any dog broken, which does not drop to charge, at the report, 

 Avithout stimng from the place, — which does not lie at charge, 

 until ordered to " hold up," and which does not point his dead 

 game, until desired to " fetch." Still, so long as diversity of 

 opinion exists on these points, and dogs are broken according 

 to the good or bad judgment of owners and breakers, different 

 animals cannot be expected to hunt harmoniously together ; and 

 so unfortunate is the propensity both of men and beasts to 

 learn evil more easily than good knowledge, that two or three 

 days' companionship with a rash, headstrong, rushing brute, 

 will, it is likely, play the very deuce with your carefully broken 

 dogs, and cause them to contract tricks, which it will cost you 

 much pains and trouble to eradicate. 



It is so very common an occurrence, while in pursuit of spring 

 Snipe, to find different kinds of Wild Duck, particularly the 

 two varieties of Teal, the Wood Duck, the Mallard, and the 

 Pintail, that it is well worth the while to cany a few red car- 

 tridges of No. 1 or No. 2 shot, — Col. Hawker obsei"ving of 

 these missiles, " that for a wild open country, or shooting by 

 day at wild fowl, he cannot say too much in their favor in 

 their present improved state." 



It is scarcely necessary to state here, that when two persons 

 are shooting in company, neither must on any account think* of 

 firing at a bird which, however fairly it may rise to himself, 

 flies across his companion. Each sportsman should take the 

 bird which flies outwardly from the common centre ; by doing 

 which he will not only avoid the incivility of shooting across his 

 friend's face, but will, in the long run, bring many more birds 



