60 COLONEL T Y'S VENUS.- FAN. [CH. iv. 



Hungary he once knocked down two partridges at a shot, one was 

 killed outright, the other only slightly wounded. " Venus " soon 

 hit off the trail of the latter, quickly overtook, it, and, while 

 carrying it to her master, came upon the dead bird. She stopped, 

 evidently greatly puzzled ; and, after one or two trials, finding she 

 could not take it up without permitting the escape of the winged 

 bird, she considered a moment, then, deliberately murdered it, by 

 giving it a severe crunch, and afterwards brought away both together. 

 It is due to the lady to observe that she is naturally as tender- 

 mouthed as her name would imply her to be tender-hearted, and 

 that this is the only known instance of her ever having wilfully 

 injured any game. 



101. Sometimes a dog's sagacity will induce him, however little 

 taught, to assist you in your hour of need ; but you must not trust 

 to this. An intimate friend of mine, shooting in Ireland to a 

 pointer-bitch that was totally unaccustomed to fetch and carry, but 

 well instructed to seek for a dead bird, killed a snipe. It fell in 

 soft, boggy ground, where he could not get at it to pick it up. After 

 some vain efforts to approach it, he hied on the bitch, who was still 

 steadily " pointing dead," with " Fetch it, Fan ; fetch it." The bitch 

 seemed for a moment puzzled at such an unusual proceeding, and 

 looked round, inquisitively, once or twice, as if to say, " What can 

 you mean ? " Suddenly, my friend's dilemma seemed to flash upon 

 her. She walked on, took the bird, quite gently, in her mouth, and 

 carried it to where the ground was firm ; but not one inch further 

 would she bring it, despite all the encouragement of her master, 

 who now wished to make her constantly retrieve. This was the 

 first and last bird she ever lifted. 



102. " Dove," a white setter, belonging to a near relation of mine, 

 (the left-hand dog in the engraving illustrating 540, is considered 

 extremely like her,) did, spontaneously, that which " Fan " only 

 consented to do after much entreaty. My relation, shooting on the 

 banks of the Forth, killed a partridge that was flying across the 

 river. As he had no retriever with him he almost regretted having 

 fired ; but, to his surprise, " Dove " volunteered jumping into the 

 water ; made her way to the bird with a sort of steamboat paddle 

 action, for I verily believe it was the first time she had attempted 

 to swim, seized it, and, returning with it to the shore, deposited it 

 safely on the bank. She never had retrieved before, and is not par- 

 ticularly good at "seeking dead." 



102. I observed it was something soft which you 

 should teach your dog to fetch. Probably you have 

 seen a retriever taught to seek and bring a stone, upon 

 which, in a delicate manner, the tutor has spit. Does 

 it not stand to reason that the stone must have tended 

 to give his pupil a hard mouth ? And what may, later 



