FIRST LESSON IN ^AUTUMN CONCLUDED. 5S5 



manner and attitude will enable you to guess pretty 

 accurately whether birds are really before him ; whether 

 they are far off or near ; and whether or not they are on 

 the move. Generally speaking, the higher he carries his 

 head, and the less he stiffens his stern, the further off 

 are the birds. If he begins to look nervous, and become 

 fidgety, you will seldom be wrong in fancying they 

 are on the run. But various, and at times most curious, 

 are the methods that dogs will adopt, apparently with 

 the wish to show you where the birds are, and certainly 

 with the desire to get you a shot. 



CHAPTER XI. 



FIRST LESSON IN AUTUMN CONCLUDED. BAB. LEG STRAP. 

 SPIKE COLLAR. 



202. AFTER a few trials you will, I hope, be able 

 to dispense with the peg recommended in 194, and 

 soon after with the checkcord also. But if your dog 

 possesses unusually high spirits, or if he travels over the 

 ground at a pace which obviously precludes his making 

 a proper use of his nose, it may be advisable to fasten to 

 his collar a bar, something like a diminutive splinter-bar, 

 that it may, by occasional knocking against his shins, 



25* 



