274 SPORTING STORIES 



dazed but unhurt, he picked himself up and cleared the 

 sand out of his eyes, he looked around for Snap. The 

 dog had vanished ! A scrap of tail — that was all that poor 

 Snap left behind him. 



I recall two remarkable instances of dogs entering into 

 sporting partnerships. 



In the first of these the confederates were a greyhound 

 and a pointer, the property of a Mr Wood of Southhall, who 

 were in the habit of going off together and having a quiet 

 day's sport on their own account. The pointer found the 

 hare and stood to it, then the greyhound killed it, some- 

 times springing on it in its forme, sometimes giving it 

 a course for its life. The nefarious confederacy was dis- 

 covered, and, to prevent any more such poaching in partner- 

 ship, a large ring was fastened to the pointer's collar, almost 

 reaching to his feet. It was thought that this would effectu- 

 ally check his progress through the fields and coverts. As 

 the pair of confederates, however, kept up their programme 

 and were apparently as keen as ever on their sport, a strict 

 watch was set over their movements. It was then dis- 

 covered that when well away from home the greyhound 

 took the ring, in his mouth, and in that way enabled his 

 friend to clear any hedge or obstruction they came across. 

 As soon as the pointer winded a hare, his confederate 

 dropped the ring, and when puss was found on her forme 

 the greyhound quickly played his part in the game. 



In the second case the confederates were a collie and a 

 fox-terrier belonging to a friend of mine living at Erdington, 

 a suburb of Birmingham. My friend and his wife frequently 

 noticed when they came down to breakfast that the collie 

 and the fox-terrier were lying on the mat in the porch, 

 panting and exhausted as if they had been running for 

 their lives. My friend's curiosity was roused, and he 

 determined to keep a watch on the dogs. The servants 

 used to loose the collie and the fox-terrier about six in the 

 morning, and the pair instantly started off together ; but my 

 friend for a long while could not discover what they did on 

 their morning expeditions. 



He was eventually enlightened by a keeper who came 

 up to him one day and said : " Mister P., them dogs o' 



