CH. vii.] "GROUSE'S" FEAT EXPLAINED. 123 



and the result was, that in a week's time the Norfolk pointers were 

 shut up in the kennel, and the neglected ' Grouse ' became my 

 constant associate. A more eccentric animal, however, cannot well 

 be conceived. She hunted just what ground she liked paid no 

 attention whatever to call or whistle would have broken the hearts 

 of a dozen Norfolk keepers, by the desperate manner in which she 

 set all rules for quartering at defiance, but she found game with 

 wonderful quickness, and in an extraordinary manner. She seemed, 

 in fact, to have the power of going direct to where birds lay, with- 

 out taking the preliminary trouble of searching for them ; and, when 

 the packs of grouse were wild, I have seen her constantly leave her 

 point, make a wide circuit, and come up in such direction as to get 

 them between herself and me. 



" She was, in every way, a most singular creature. No one did 

 she regard as her master : no one would she obey. She showed as 

 little pleasure when birds fell, as disappointment when they flew 

 away ; but continued her odd, eccentric movements until she be- 

 came tired or birds scarce, and then quietly trotted home, totally 

 regardless of my softest blandishments or my fiercest execrations. 



208. " She was beautifully-shaped, with round well-formed feet, 

 her forehead prominent, and her nostrils expanded more, I think, 

 than I ever saw in any dog. 



209. " I bred from her, but her offspring were not worth their 

 salt, although their father was a good dog, and had seen some 

 service in Norfolk turnips." 



210. As a horse-dealer once said to me, " I'd ride many a mile, 

 and pay my own pikes," to see such an animal ; but, " Grouse," 

 being, unhappily, no longer in the land of the living, I was forced 

 to content myself with merely looking at her portrait. This, how- 

 ever, afforded me much pleasure ; I therefore obtained the owner's 

 permission to have it engraved. He says that she always much 

 arched her loins when at a point close to game, and that the artist 

 has most happily hit off her attitude. She is the darker dog of the 

 two, and stands, as soldiers say, on the " proper left." Her com- 

 panion, " Juno," was far from a bad bitch. 



211. Might not this singular feat of "Grouse's" be thus ex- 

 plained? 



212. The longer the time that has elapsed since the emission 

 of particles of scent, the more feeble is that scent, on account of 

 the greater dispersion of the said particles ; but, from the greater 

 space * they then occupy, a dog would necessarily have a greater 

 chance of meeting some of them, though, possibly, his nose might 

 not be fine enough to detect them. 



213. Now, my idea is, that "Grouse's" exquisite sense of smell 

 made her often imagine the possible vicinity of game from the very 



* This dispersion of scent in the more game than a dog who hunts 

 atmosphere explains why a dug with his nose near the ground, 

 who carries his head high finds 



