BREAKING AT PAIRING TIME. 127 



enough then will become so excited when he sees game killed, 

 that he will rim riot for a short time ; but he knows what is 

 right, and it is only necessary to correct his faults. There is 

 little to be instilled into him, which is the most difficult part 

 of all education, and after an hour's work he will settle down 

 into a useful assistant. 



The RANGE is the first of these four acts of education, and 

 it is at once the most easy to teach to a certain extent, and 

 the most difficult to teach fully. Almost any dog with good 

 breeding, and unspoilt by confinement or the whip, will start 

 off and keep galloping about in a meaningless manner ; and 

 this is sometimes called " beating ;" but it is very wide of 

 what is meant by the real sportsman when he says that his 

 dog beats his ground in a proper way. Ranging should be 

 so carried out that every portion of the field or moor is crossed 

 by the dog nearly at right angles to the wind, and at the 

 smallest possible distance from the shooter consistent with the 

 act itself. The dog has already been taught to run forward 

 at the words " Hie on" or " Hold up," but he must now be 

 shown how to proceed in the best manner to find his game. 

 Some dogs, from not being thus taught, are apt to run straight 

 into the middle of the field, and when they find a covey there, 

 as they often do, it is supposed to be by a kind of special 

 instinct. But if the sportsman desires that his ground, either 

 in a manor or on a moor, should be thoroughly and effectively 

 beaten, he will direct his dog to begin to leeward, and then 

 crossing from side to side nearly at right angles with the 

 wind, but with a slight tendency forwards, the ground is ulti- 

 mately all crossed and re-crossed with intervals of from fifty 

 to a hundred yards, according to circumstances. In doing 

 this, the wind blows the scent of the game sideways on the 

 dog, and a good one will always be observed to carry his head 

 obliquely in the wind's eye, as he crosses his ground ; but the 

 angle is in any case such that the scent is perceived just as 

 well as if it was blown directly in front of him. If the dog 

 is shy, he will perhaps refuse to beat, and then an older com- 

 panion must be made to show him the way, which most 

 puppies have enough of the faculty of imitation to be led to 

 follow. Then for a time let both start off, the young one 

 playing around his older leader, and without any idea of what 



