174 OVER-CAUTIOK [CH. x. 



293. I recount this story, though it is little in my 

 favour, to warn you against the too common error of 

 fancying that a young dog is making false points if 

 birds do not get up directly. They may have taken 

 leg-bail, and thus have puzzled him in his inexperience. 

 Dogs not cowed by punishment will, after a little hunt- 

 ing, seldom make false points, while they are unfatigued. 

 To a certainty they will not draw upon a false point for 

 any distance : therefore, never punish what is solely 

 occasioned by over-caution. Your doing so would but 

 increase the evil. Self-confidence and experience are 

 the only cares for a fault that would be a virtue if not 

 carried to excess. Even a good dog will occasionally 

 make a point at larks from over-caution when birds are 

 wild ; but see the first note to 194. 



294. After you have shot over a dog a short time, his 

 manner and attitude will enable you to guess pretty ac- 

 curately whether birds are really before him ; whether 

 they are far off or near ; and whether or not they are 

 on the move. Generally speaking, the higher he carries 

 his head, and the less he stiffens his stern, the further 

 off are the birds. If he begin to look nervous, and be- 

 come fidgety, you will seldom be wrong in fancying they 

 are on the run. But various, and at times most curious, 

 are the methods that dogs will adopt, apparently with 

 the wish to show you where the birds are, and certainly 

 with the desire to get you a shot. 



295. A pointer, belonging at the present moment to a nobleman 



in Perthshire, Lord M d, (from whose lips my informant heard 



the strange story), has quite a novel mode of telling that birds are 

 on the move. While they continue quiet, he points them in the usual 

 manner, with his head towards them, but so soon as they begin to 

 walk off, he directly faces about, very disrespectfully presenting his 

 stern to them, whether to express contempt for their want of cour- 

 tesy, or to warn his lordship to look out for a long shot, I will leave 

 you to decide.* I particularly inquired if he did this indifferently, 



* " Suwarrow's " manoeuvre (530) clearly shows the true reason. 



