en. vii.] CAUTION TAUGHT. 115 



pace, that their noses may have fair play. If you have 

 such a pupil to instruct, when you get near birds you 

 have marked down, signal to him to come to "heel." 

 Whisper to him " Care," and let him see by your light, 

 slow tread your anxiety not to alarm the game. If he 

 has never shown any symptoms of blinking, you may, a 

 few times, thus spring the birds yourself while you keep 

 him close to you. On the next occasion of marking 

 down birds, or coming to a very likely spot, bring him 

 into " heel," and after an impressive injunction to take 

 " care," give him two or three very limited casts to the 

 right or left, and let him find the game while you 

 instruct him as described in 329. As there will be no 

 fear of such a dog making false points, take him often 

 to the fields where he has most frequently met birds. 

 The expectation of again coming on them, and the 

 recollection of the lectures he there received, will be 

 likely to make him cautious on entering it. I remember 

 a particular spot in a certain field that early in the 

 season constantly held birds. A young dog I then 

 possessed never approached it afterwards without draw- 

 ing upon it most carefully, though he had not found 

 there for months. At first I had some difficulty in 

 preventing the " draw " from becoming a " point." 



198. I have elsewhere observed that fast dogs, which 

 give most trouble in breaking, usually turn out best. 

 Now if you think for a moment you will see the reason 

 plainly. A young dog does not ultimately become first- 

 rate because he is wild and headstrong, and regardless 

 of orders, but because his speed and disobedience arise 

 from his great energies, from his fondness for the 

 sport ; from his longing to inhale the exhilarating scent 

 and pursue the flying game. It is the possession of 

 these qualities that makes him, in his anxious state of 



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