CH. xi.] LESSON IN "GONE." 193 



him let him urge them to rise ; and make him effect 

 this, not by a sudden dash, but by steadily pressing on 

 the scent. Bear in mind, as before warned (193), that 

 the confidence with which he can here creep on to a 

 near find may lead, if he is now mismanaged, to his 

 springing on future occasions, from want of care, many 

 a bird at which he ought to get you a shot. 



330. If you can contrive it, let your pupil have some 

 little experience in the field before you give him a real 

 lesson in "Gone" (or "Flown"). Instead of being 

 perplexed, he will then comprehend you. Should you, 

 therefore, during the first few days of hunting him, see 

 birds make off, in lieu of taking him to the haunt (as 

 many breakers erroneously do), carefully keep him 

 from the spot. You cannot let him run riot over the 

 reeking scent without expecting him to do the same 

 when next he finds ; and if, in compliance with your 

 orders, he points, you are making a fool of him there 

 is nothing before him ; and if he does not fancy you as 

 bewildered as himself, he will imagine that the exhilara- 

 ting effluvia he rejoices in is the sum total you both 

 seek. This advice, at first sight, may appear to contra- 

 dict that given in 132 and 306 ; but look again, and 

 you will find that those paragraphs referred to peculiar 

 cases. Should your young dog be loitering and sniffing 

 at a haunt which he has seen birds quit, he cannot well 

 mistake the meaning of your calling out, " Gone, gone." 



