SETTER TO RETRIEVE. 641 



than one dog retrieve the same bird. With more dogs 

 than one the bird would, almost to a certainty, be torn ; 

 and if a dog once becomes sensible of the enjoyment he 

 would derive in pulling out the feathers of a bird, you 

 will find it difficult to make him deliver it up before 

 he has in some way disfigured it. If you shoot with 

 several dogs that retrieve, be careful always to let the 

 dog who finds the game be the one to bring it. It is but 

 fair that he should be so rewarded, and thus all will be 

 stimulated to hunt with increased diligence. 



296. If the dog that found the covey be not able 

 to wind the bird you have shot, make one of the 

 other dogs take a large circuit. The latter may thus, 

 with rut interfering with the first dog, come upon the 

 bird, should it have run far. Send him in the di- 

 rection the covey has taken the chances are great 

 that the bird is travelling towards the same point. By 

 pursuing this plan, obviously there will be much less 

 chance of your losing a bird than if you allow the 

 dogs to keep close together while searching. See 

 alfo 98. 



297. Do not think that by making your setter lift 

 after his first season instead of " pointing dead," there 

 will be any increased risk of his raising unsprung birds. 

 The difference between the scent of dead or wounded 

 game, and that of game perfectly uninjured, is so 

 vast, that no steady, experienced dog will fail to point 

 any fresh bird he may come across whilst seeking for 

 that which is lost 



