CH. iv.] DELIVER INTO HAND. 59 



to accompany a first-rate shot, Mr. C h, who was trying a gun 



he thought of purchasing for his keeper. The dogs soon came upon 

 a covey. He killed with his first barrel, but apparently missed with 

 his second. He found fault with the gun for not shooting strongly ; 

 and I well remember impertinently fancying, but I dared not say 

 so, that perhaps he was as much to blame as the gun. Soon after- 

 wards, to our mutual surprise, we saw one of the dogs trotting up 

 with a bird, still warm, in its mouth ; thus tacitly reproving me for 



not having done justice to Mr. C h's unerring eye and steady 



hand. 



98. Mark my having said, " deliver into your hand," 

 that your young dog may not be satisfied with only 

 dropping, within your sight, any bird he may lift, and 

 so, perhaps, leave it on the other side of a trout stream, 

 as I have seen dogs do more than once, in spite of every 

 persuasion and entreaty. "With a young dog, who 

 retrieves, never pick up a bird yourself, however close 

 it may fall to you. Invariably, make him either deliver 

 it into your hand or lay it at your feet. The former is 

 by far the better plan. If the dog has at one moment 

 to drop the bird at ymir will, he is likely to fancy him- 

 self privileged to drop it at another time for his own 

 convenience. In other respects, too, the former is the 

 safest method. I have a bitch now in my recollection, 

 who frequently lost her master slightly winged birds, 

 (which she had admirably recovered} by dropping them 

 too soon on hearing the report of a gun, or coming on 

 other game, for off they ran, and fairly escaped, it 

 being impracticable, by any encouragement, to induce 

 her to seek for a bird she had once lifted. 



99. This error, I mean that of allowing a wounded bird to regain 

 its liberty, was once beautifully avoided by a pretty black retriever, 

 belonging to Colonel T y, a good sportsman and pleasant com- 

 panion, who, not long since, told me the circumstance ; and I am 

 glad to be able, on such authority, to relate an anecdote evincing so 

 much reflection and judgment, for I know not by what other terms 

 to characterise the dog's sagacity. 



100. Colonel T y's avocations constantly take him from his 



neat bachelor's cottage in Kent, to travel abroad. Shooting in 



