UPLAND SHOOTING. 295 



or wag his tail, lest the quick eye of the watchful Duck, or their 

 almost iiit'allihle sense of hearing, detect either by sound or 

 siylit tlie impationt movement. Once ordered to recover the 

 dead, or, what is worse, tlie cripples, neither the cold of 

 tlu! tVic/iim; lake, nor tin' namli billows of the stormy frith, 

 must lifter him. In his j)erfeclioii lu; is, and needsmiist be, the 

 most intelligent, and so iar as endurance! goes, the bravest of 

 dogs ; and so Car as the fowler's ])articular sport iHKiuestionably 

 lacks lliat variety and excitement, both of incident and pursuit, 

 which gives the great charm to every kind of shooting or hunt- 

 ing, it will certainly |te well to add to it the increased pleasure 

 aflbrded by the use of the retriever. 



I used to suppose that the best species of dog for the Upland 

 retriever, is the large Water Spaniel, as, undoubtedly, for sea- 

 fowl shooting the small, sharpish-eared, St. John's Nevvfoimd- 

 land dog is preferable to all other races. In a work which has 

 lately come before me, however, of which I think very highly, 

 1 find the following observations, the correctness of which I be- 

 lieve to be indisputable ; and I little doubt that the sort of dog 

 here described, would be of general utility to the sportsman. 

 The book to which I allude is " The Moor and the Loch," by 

 Colquhonn, of Luss, who, in the sphere of wild sports, to which 

 he has ])aid attention, is not, I think, inferior to Col. Hawker, 

 when mounted on his hoi)by of British sea-fowling. 



Fi'om this liook, while on the present topic, I shall again 

 quote ; and, without farther apology or explanation, proceed to 

 extract liis views as to the dog most fitting as the Duck-shooter's 

 assistant. 



" Next in importance to the gun," says Mr. Cohjuhoun, " is 

 a propiM- i-etriever. The Newfoundland is not quite the thing: 

 fiist, his black color is against him" — white, of course, is out of 

 the (|urslion — "brown is much to be preferred; then, I should 

 wish my dog occasionally to assist me in this inland shooting, 

 by beating rushes, or thick cover, up creeks, where you may 

 often plant yourself in an open situation for a shot, and your dog 

 put up the fowl, which are almost certain to fly down past you. 



