116 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



still woods, carrying welcome music to the alert 

 ears of the hunter. He marks the direction, and 

 stealthily proceeds in the direction of the resting birds, 

 whence 'faint and almost indistinct calls are wafted 

 to him ; then some noisy duck, having partaken too 

 freely of corn, and feeling the effects of its fermenta- 

 tion, raises her pretty head and quacks so loudly 

 that he marks the spot where the birds are located. 

 His dog is filled with nervous apprehension lest he 

 commit some act, show some movement that will at- 

 tract the attention of the hordes of resting ducks. 

 Cautiously the hunter raises his hand, as he turns and 

 beams on his four-footed companion a look so full of 

 warning. The dog interprets his master's thoughts, 

 and returns to him a bright look, so full of confidence 

 and cautiousness. They understand each other ; one 

 is human, the other of the brute creation. The mas- 

 ter's mind shows his thoughts in his eager eyes ; the 

 dog receives it, and is governed accordingly. No need 

 of words, their understanding is complete and satis- 

 factory, and the dog treads noiselessly in the foot- 

 steps of his master, carefully avoiding dried sticks, 

 twigs and rattling leaves. The hunter desires to re- 

 connoitre, and stooping over with trailing gun in hand, 

 he steals toward the vast trunk of an ancient oak. As 

 he nears it he drops gently, quietly on his knees, and 

 lithes himself toward the objective tree. Gaining it, 

 he rises carefully, peers intently round its wrinkled 

 body, and drinks in with delight the pleasurable sight 

 before him. As if the dog could read the innermost 

 thoughts of his master's mind, he imitates each move 

 of the hunter, governed by the same thought, the dog 

 advances, hesitates, stops, in exact conjunction with 



