288 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



another way. There is perhaps a change of scent in breeding 

 creatures. To explain this, in a doubtful way, it has been 

 affirmed that in gestation the superfluous essence of a beast 

 finds a use in being drained by the blood to the embryo. 



In birds, however, if they are discovered off the nest, your 

 pointer will frequently point them, but will not be able to do 

 so when they are upon their eggs. The pointer is not a 

 close hunter like the fox, the terrier, or the sheep-dog, all of 

 which occasionally find too many sitting birds. But that 

 which most negatives the change of system theory in birds 

 are two facts. One, that off the nests to feed the birds have 

 scent; and the other is, that at any time of the year the 

 birds have power to withhold their scent by merely crouch- 

 ing tight to mother earth, holding in their feathers and 

 remaining motionless. The author has been one of a party 

 when the best dogs then in existence totally failed to find 

 a wounded grouse. Then it was resolved to lunch, and dogs 

 were dropped or coupled up where they were. Towards 

 the end of lunch, one of the dogs was observed to be pointing 

 downwards with its nose not 6 inches from the ground upon 

 which lay the wounded grouse. That is to say, it had remained 

 immovable and scentless within a yard of these crack dogs for 

 more than half an hour. These dogs were the very best 

 amongst the most successful field trial winners of the time, 

 and to doubt that they had remarkable noses would seem 

 absurd if their names were mentioned. Some of them had 

 won by finding game 100 yards over the backs of their 

 competitors. But there was absolutely no scent from that 

 bird until it became exhausted. Nor is this unusual. A falcon 

 generally, and an artificial kite sometimes, will make unwounded 

 birds crouch like this, and they too will often give out no scent 

 whatever. At other times dogs will be only able to detect 

 the foot scents made before the birds were scared into close 

 lying. If there could be any doubt about the noses of the dogs 

 the author has shot over, he would not dare to write like this ; 

 but the best dog men of the present time will, he knows, support 

 him when he says there never have been better nosed ones. 



