IHii IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 447 



pains to elicit. Being entered, and in some measure 

 shot to, the first season, at tlie commencement of the 

 next for cover-shooting, they may, with some patience 

 at first, be admitted to regular work. Yet are they 

 inexperienced, inasmuch as they are not aware of the 

 most probable haunts of game ; nor do they know how 

 to manage a doubtful scent. In the company of old 

 dogs, however, they improve very fast. At three 

 years old they become very tolerable finders ; at four, 

 they are knowing and sagacious in their work ; and at 

 five years, they are in the zenith of all their properties 

 and powers. When taking all countries, and the divers 

 kind of w^ork they have to accomplish, and the fatigue 

 they can endure, into consideration, they become 

 the most valuable appendage to the admirers of cover- 

 shooting. 



" It would be improper to dismiss the subject, with- 

 out noticing a circumstance in the treatment of this 

 sort of dog, productive of the most fatal consequences. 

 With many it is a common practice not to enter 

 spaniels till they are two years old, or the third sea- 

 son from whelping ; and then, because they range and 

 hunt in cover, they are of a sudden, forsooth, required 

 to understand, and obey commands also. Not so ; 

 the instilhng this principle so as to act as a constant 

 bias on the conduct of the animal, is the work of tin:e 

 and patience only ; the sense of it must be entertainer^, 

 when young, increase with the stature, and grow with 

 the growth. Without this implicit obedience to com- 

 mand, you may have many dogs w^ith you, but no one 

 employed as it ought to be; one shall be far a head hunt- 

 ing upon his owm account, and putting up every thing 

 out of shot ; another close behind your heels, with his 

 tail between his legs ; a third, sneaking and creeping 

 after you at a more respectful distance ; while the rest 



