STRENUOUS DOGS AND SPORT IN AMERICA 157 



more like English shooting at the dawn of the nineteenth 

 century than our own shooting over dogs is like it. 



But whether that is so or not, the writer is certain that 

 this strenuous work is the right method to maintain the genera- 

 tions of the dog, and that there would be no sense in the 

 theory of evolution if these Champions were not the best 

 dogs to breed from. At any rate, although the Americans 

 owe to us all their breeds of pointers and setters, no recent 

 importations have been able to win there, and, on the other 

 hand, the first American cross-breds to be brought over have 

 annexed some of our field trials. The reference is to 

 Mr. A. Hall's Guiniard Shot and Dash, victors in a brace 

 stake in 1905, and good enough with a little luck, and in 

 the hands of any but a novice, to have beaten the best 

 running in our trials that year, although they were only 

 four days over the age of puppies when they competed 

 against old dogs. 



Another charming method of shooting is found still 

 farther South, in Georgia, where there are vast areas of pine 

 forests and quail in them. 



Here it is common to drive through the pathless woods. 

 The waggons are often driven over a fallen tree that to 

 English eyes seems to bar the way. It is an article of faith 

 that if the horse can get over, the buggy will follow. 



There is naturally a limit to one's range of vision amongst 

 straight stems, although there is no brushwood to interfere, 

 and the way free rangers when upon the point are found in 

 these woods, as also in the brushwood outside, is by means 

 of other dogs ; there may be half a dozen hunting together, 

 and several spare animals in the buggy. If careful watching 

 does not discover the last direction taken by the dog on point, 

 it will do so of one or other of the backing dogs, and, failing 

 that, another is turned out to look for the out-of-sight brigade. 

 January sport is like driving in the English pine districts on 

 an early September day, and shooting partridges in the woods 

 (for the " quail " or " bob-whites " are partridges, and not quail) 

 and the bracing freshness of the pine-laden air has, with good 



