1 66 LETTERS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



anywhere and everywhere, so long as he re-appears with a bird 

 in his mouth. Soon he tires, standing idiotic and confused, 

 annoying others less but his owner even more than ever. 



Gather yourself everything you can see ; the dog is 

 wanted for lost birds ; hunt him first on suspected runners 

 before the scent is foiled ; make him bring every bird to hand. 

 If you suspect him of learning that he has only to go far 

 enough in order to find something somewhere, irrespective 

 of boundaries or orders, hunt him on a long, light " trash- 

 cord." It is a nuisance, but will soon work wonders. And 

 anyway it is less of a nuisance than uncontrolled hunting. 



Partridge-driving presents fewer difficulties in the 

 pick-up, inasmuch as the modern system usually involves 

 driving the birds out of roots or other cover, and killing them 

 more or less in the open. Here it is only the runner which 

 really requires a dog, and he must be one on whom you can 

 rely not to dash into cover about to be driven or commit 

 any glaring crimes. You will not use him much. Before 

 dismissing the subject, I want to " rub in " my remarks 

 about the selection of a retriever. You may possess a ready- 

 made dog, in which case the best you can do is to watch 

 against his taking liberties. But I am rather assuming 

 your aspiration to break a puppy yourself, which, given the 

 necessary time, patience and sympathy, will be your wisest 

 course. Eschew the " probable field-trial winner " ; have 

 nothing to do with the puppy whose sole qualification is his 

 descent from Field-Trial ancestry. He may turn out a useful 

 dog in the field trial (with small initials) which the competitive 

 Trial never quite resembles ; he will probably go a great pace, 

 almost certainly too fast for his nose, which will be inferior 

 to his powers of locomotion. A dog which over-runs his 

 nose is usually deficient in brain, and it is with his nose, 

 not his legs, that he can find game. In support of my con- 

 demnation of the importance hitherto attached at field trials 

 to galloping, pure and simple, I may tell you, without dis- 

 closing a state secret, that prior to a recent meeting, 

 abandoned on account of the weather, the judges had agreed 

 to penalise this hitherto popular speed craze and to make their 

 awards with due regard to the exhibition of qualities likely 

 to prove of most value in the course of an actual day's 



