184 SEARCH FOR HOURS. [CH. XL 



evidence of its death ; for, odd to say, these very dogs 

 will often zealously obey the order to hunt for any bird 

 whose fall they have not noticed ; but in winding it 

 they will indulge in no more than a passing sniff, 

 which sniff, unless you are watchful, you may not ob- 

 serve, and so lose your bird. Never fail, therefore, to 

 let your pupil ruffle the feathers* a little, while you 

 bestow on him a caress or a kind word of approbation. 

 You then incite to perseverance, by, even with dogs, a 

 very abiding motive, " self-interest ; " but mind the 

 important rule, that this " nosing " be only when the 

 bird is in your possession, not before it is in your posses- 

 sion. If you wish to establish for ever a confirmed 

 perseverance in " seeking dead," you must sacrifice hours 

 (I say it seriously) rather than give up any of the first 

 wounded birds. Be persuaded that every half hour 

 spent in an unremitting search for one bird, if ultimately 

 successful, will more benefit the young dog than your 

 killing a dozen to him, should you bag them the moment 

 you are reloaded. Of course you would not, when you 

 are giving such a lesson in perseverance, fire at another 

 bird, even if it sprang at your feet, for your doing so, 

 whether you missed or killed, would unsettle the young 

 dog, and make him relinquish his search. Be stimulated 

 to present exertion by the conviction that if he be not 

 now well instructed, you must expect him to lose, season 

 after season, nearly every bird only slightly disabled by 

 a merely tipped wing. 



* After a tonseling you may time interfered with the delicacy 



have observed the dog rubbing and discrimination of his olfactory 



his nose in the grass. He did organs. He got too near his 



right. I have lately had reason birds before acknowledging them, 



to think that when from the ab- Would you be shocked if I asked 



sence of grass a dog could not you to assist him occasionally in 



effectually wipe his nose, the fine freeing his nostrils from the of- 



down adhering to it has for some fending feathers ? 



