TRAINING DOGS FOR THE GUN. 135 



rush to the spot where he supposes, from the scent, the birds 

 are situated. The fact is, that almost all dogs hunt the tenants 

 of the air from inclination or instinct, but particularly partridges, 

 pheasants, &c. which are much given to running, and thus afford 

 their four-footed enemy a far better opportunity of following 

 them than such as take to immediate flight, at once convincing 

 the dog of the hopelessness of the pursuit. 



In following birds, all dogs are actuated by a strong desire to 

 seize them ; and, after repeated ineffectual attempts, at length 

 cunningly adopt the mode of stopping for a few seconds, in or- 

 der to ensure the object by a sudden rush to the identical spot, 

 which the information of their exquisite olfactory organs enables 

 them to do with tolerable precision. It has been stated, that 

 an earl of Surrey was the first who taught a dog to set ; this 

 certainly may have been the case, and I have no doubt that the 

 observation of the pauses which the animal instinctively makes, 

 first gave rise to the caution in pointing) which the dog now 

 receives from the sportsman. 



As I have just stated that all dogs that will hunt will set also, 

 I shall, for the sake of elucidation, exhibit a comparative view 

 of the subject ; or in other words, attempt to show that some 

 dogs testify greater inclination for those instinctive pauses than 

 others. The greyhound we omit altogether, as he manifests 

 no disposition to hunt by the nose. The lurcher^ which will 

 hunt by the nose, and possesses the quality above described, is 

 not a good example, as his olfactory nerves are of a very inferior 

 description, and he is more apt to depend upon the eye than 

 the nose. The terrier has already been mentioned as pausing 

 to prepare for a rush ; the same inclination will be found to pre- 

 vail in most of the mongrels, which it is impossible to classify, 

 but which will be generally found to evince a similar disposition; 

 while all dogs of the spaniel kind, as they have better noses, and 



are more inclined to range, exhibit the quality of pointing in a 

 M 2 



