INITIATORY LESS )XS CONTHSTUED. 501 



mostly white with a little lemon color, have large, sensi- 

 ble heads, thick, short legs, silky coats, carry their sterns 

 low, and hunt perfectly mute. The team kept within 

 twenty or twenty-five yards of the keeper, were trained 

 to acknowledge rabbits, as well as all kinds of game ; 



and in the country Mr. D z was then shooting over 



afforded capital sport. One of the spaniels was taught 

 to retrieve. He would follow to any distance, and sel- 

 dom failed to bring. A regular retriever was, however, 



generally taken out with them. Mr. D z told me 



that they required very judicious management, and en- 

 couragement rather than severity, as undue whipping 

 soon made them timid. They are of a delicate constitu- 

 tion. He rather surprised me by saying that his 

 spaniels from working quietly and ranging close, there- 

 fore, alarming the birds less, procured him far more 

 shots in turnips than his pointers ; and he had three that 

 looked of the right sort. He explained matters, how- 

 ever, by telling me that it was his practice to make a 

 circuit round the outskirts of a turnip or a potato field 

 before hunting the inner parts. This of course greatly 

 tended to prevent the birds breaking. A juvenile 

 sportsman would rejoice in the services of the spaniels, 

 for many a rabbit would they procure for him without 

 the aid of powder and shot. 



72. When Colonel M , who died in Syria, was 



stationed with his troop of Horse Artillery at Pontefract, 



he was asked to shoot partridges at Lord P n's seat 



in Yorkshire. On meeting the gamekeeper, according 



