108 SCENT ONE HUNDRED YARDS. [CH. vi. 



breeze came directly across the furrows, and she had led us in the 

 wind's eye. We thought the point the more remarkable, as it is 

 generally supposed that the strong smell of turnips diminishes a 

 dog's power of scenting birds. 



183. R 1 T n, a gamekeeper, once assured me he had seen 



a point at grouse which were at the least one hundred and fifty 

 yards off. The dogs were on the edge of a valley the pack on a 

 little hillock from which direction the wind blew an intervening 

 wall near the top of the hillock separated them from the dogs ; and 

 as intermediately there was no heather, the man was satisfied that 

 the birds had not run over the ground. When I was talking one 



day to Mr. L g, the well-known gunmaker in the Haymarket, 



about the qualities of dogs' noses, and from his long experience he 

 ought to be a judge of such matters, he told me, before I had said 

 a word respecting distances, that he thought he had seen more than 

 once a dog point at one hundred and fifty yards from his game. 



184. If you design your pupil, when broken in, to 

 hunt with a companion, and wish both the dogs, as is 

 usual, to cross you, you will, of course, habituate him to 

 make his sweeps (the space between the parallels) wider 

 than if you had intended him to hunt without any one 

 to share his labours. 



185. I need hardly warn you to be careful not to 

 interrupt him whenever he appears to be winding birds. 

 However good his nose may be by nature, it will not 

 gain experience and discrimination, unless you give him 

 a certain time to determine for himself whether he has 

 really touched upon a faint scent of birds, and whether 

 they are in his front or rear, or gone away altogether. Like 

 every other faculty, his sense of smell will improve the 

 more it is exercised. But on the other hand, as I 

 observed before, do not let him continue puzzling with 

 his nose close to the ground, urge him on, make him 

 increase his pace, force him to search elsewhere, and 

 he will gradually elevate his head, and catching the 

 scent of other particles, will follow up these with a nose 

 borne aloft, unless he is a brute not worth a twentieth 

 part of the pains which you think of bestowing upon 

 him; for, 



