FIKST LESSON IN AUTUMN CONTINUED. 553 



frequently arises from want of caution in other words, 

 from want of good instruction than from a defective nose. 

 147. Slow dogs readily acquire this caution ; but fast 

 dogs cannot be taught it without great labor. You 

 have to show them the necessity of diminishing their 

 pace, that their noses may have fair play. If you have 

 such a pupil to instruct, when you get near birds you 

 have marked down, signal to him to come to " heel " 

 Whisper to him " Care," and let him see by your light, 

 slow tread, your anxiety not to alarm the birds. If he has 

 never shown any symptoms of blinking, you may, a few 

 times, thus spring the birds yourself while you keep him 

 close to you. On the next occasion of marking down 

 birds, or coming to a very likely spot, bring him int< 

 "heel," and after an impressive injunction to take " care," 

 give him two or three very limited casts to the right or 

 left, and let him find the birds while you instruct him as 

 described in 228. As there will be no fear of such a 

 dog making false points, take him often to the fields 

 where he has most frequently met birds. The expectation 

 of again coming on them, and the recollection of the 

 lectures he there received, will be likely to make him 

 cautious on entering it. I remember a particular spot 

 in a certain field that early in the season constantly 

 held birds. A young dog I then possessed never ap- 

 proached it afterwards without drawing upon it most 

 carefully, though he had not found there for months. 

 At first I had some difficulty in preventing the " draw " 

 from becoming a " point." 



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