148 FAST WALKING NOT MOST HUNTING. [CH. vin. 



of its utility. As they all " backed " promptly instantly " down- 

 charged," and had not a shade of jealousy, they did little harm ; 

 and sometimes on a broiling day " Beau," who generally took the 

 lead, was not the first to come on a dead bird. Where game is 

 plentiful, as bad rangers as the trio belonging to my old friend, will 

 afford you sport ; but it is certain that they will pass by many birds, 

 unless you undergo the fatigue of walking over most of the ground 

 yourself, and it is clear if you do, that you will not be able to hunt 

 half as many acres in a day, as you could if you kept to your general 

 central direction while the dogs hunted according to rule. Few 

 Frenchmen agree with us respecting a fine range. They make their 

 pointers and setters hunt almost as close as spaniels. They prefer 

 bitches to dogs, saying that they are more affectionate ("plus 

 fideles"), and therefore range nearer. In England, in old days, 

 when our dogs were far heavier and slower than they are now, and, 

 in consequence, could not run over so much ground, they were 

 taught to traverse little more than from thirty to sixty yards on 

 each side of the gun. 



256. Some men fancy that the faster they walk, the 

 more country they hunt. This is far from being always 

 the case. Dogs travel at one rate, whether you walk 

 fast or slow, and the distance between the parallels on 

 which they work, (being determined by the fineness of 

 their noses, and the goodness of the scent,) ought not to 

 be affected by your pace. Suppose, therefore, that you 

 shoot in an unenclosed country, whether you walk 

 quickly, or merely crawl along, the only difference in 

 the beat of your dogs ought to be that, in the latter 

 case, they range further to the right and left. You thus 

 make up in your lyreadth what you lose in your length 

 of beat. 



257. Nor do the fastest dogs, however well they may 

 be broken, always truly hunt the most ground. The 

 slower dogs have frequently finer olfactory nerves than 

 their fleeter rivals, therefore the parallels on which the 

 former work, may correctly be much wider apart than 

 the parallels of the latter, The finer nose in this 

 manner commands so much more ground, that it beats 

 the quicker heels out and out. 



