42 BELLS IN COVER. [CH. in. 



Xo fixed rules can be given for a sport that varies so 

 much as cover- shooting. 



74. Of the large kind, most sportsmen will think a 

 couple and a half a sufficient number to hunt at a time. 

 Certainly one of them should retrieve : and they ought 

 to be well broken in not to notice flick. These dogs are 

 most esteemed when they run mute. If they do, they 

 must be hunted with bells in very thick cover ; but the 

 less bells are employed the better, for the tinkling sound, 

 in a greater or smaller degree, annoys all game. Such 

 dogs, when good, are very valuable. 



75. I once shot over a team of Clumber spaniels belonging to 



Mr. D z. The breed (the Duke of Newcastle's, taking their 



name from one of his seats), are mostly white with a little lemon 

 colour, have large sensible 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 acknow- 

 ledge Eabbits, as weli as all kinds of game ; and in the country 



Mr. D z wt s then shooting over afforded capital sport. One of 



the spaniels was taught to retrieve. He would follow to any dis- 

 tance, and seldom 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 encouragement rather 

 than severity, as undue whipping soon made them timid. They 

 are of a delicate constitution. He rather surprised me by saying 

 that his spaniels from working quietly and ranging close, (therefore, 

 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, however, by telling me, that it was his 

 practice to make a circuit round the outskirts of a turnip or potato 

 field before hunting the inner parts. This of course greatly tended 

 to prevent the birds breaking (401). 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. 



76. 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 to appointment, he found him surrounded 



by a team of Clumber spaniels. Colonel M , in some surprise 



at seeing no setters or pointers, remarked that he had expected 

 some partridge shooting. " I know it," answered the man, " and 

 I hope to show you some sport." To the inquiry why one of the 

 spaniels was muzzled, the keeper said that his master had threatened 

 to shoot it should it again give tongue, and, as it possessed a par- 



