THE ExXGLISH POINTER. 705 



field, provided the game is neither sprung nor started at 

 which he himself originally pointed. Whenever a pointer is 

 conscious of his own powers and education, he makes it his 

 whole business to serve and amuse his master. At the same 

 time he will also perform his work to others to whom he 

 may be lent, and is sensible of the duty required of him tlie 

 moment he enters the field. 



Pointers are seldom used for any other kind of shooting 

 than that of grouse, partridge, and snipe. 



We are informed of Mr. Daniel, that he possessed a pointer 

 which would always go round close to the hedges of a field 

 before he would quarter his ground ; the dog being sensible 

 that he most frequently found his game in the course of this 

 circuit, and therefore very naturally took the middle road to 

 discover it. 



The following interesting fact was communicated to me 

 by an eye-witness. The circumstance happened in Forfar- 

 shire, and is a strong proof of the reasoning powers of a 

 dog. " Two or three weeks ago, an acquaintance and I were 

 out shooting in this neighbourhood, when we saw the most 

 beautiful thing we ever witnessed in the way of a point : 

 one of our pointers, a bitch, was going over a stone dyke, 

 about four feet high, and just as she made the leap, got the 

 scent of some birds on the other side of the wall. She hung 

 by her fore-legs until we came up. It appeared at the dis- 

 tance we were from her, as if her fore-legs had got fastened 

 amongst the stones in the wall, and that she could not extri- 

 cate herself. You may judge of our delight when coming 

 up, to find that it was her caution, for fear of flushing the 

 birds, that prevented her from taking the leap. It is im- 

 possible adequately to convey to you in writing the beauty 

 of this point!" 



Was this mere instinct, or was it reason. 



4 X 



