CH. xii.] KILLING BABBITS REPROBATED. 



195 



for rabbits, I beg we may have no further acquaintance, 

 if you ever, even in imagination, shoot them to your 

 young dog. Should you be betrayed into so vile a 

 practice, you must resign all hope of establishing in 

 him a confirmed systematic range. He will degene- 

 rate into a low potterer, a regular hedge-hunter. In 

 turnips he will always be thinking more of rabbits than 

 birds. It will be soon enough to shoot the little 

 wretches to him when he is a venerable grandfather. 

 The youngster's noticing them (which he would be 

 sure to do if you had ever killed one to him) might 



must have found difficult (though 

 none are ever shot to him) from 

 the few that, comparatively speak- 

 ing, his pupil could have seen. 

 Independently, however, of want 

 of pace and practice in reading, it 

 never would he fair to take a dog 

 direct from the Lowlands to con- 

 tend on the Highlands with one 

 habituated to the latter, and vice 

 versd, for the stranger would always 

 be placed to great disadvantage. 

 A faint, scent of game which the 

 other would instantly recognise, 

 he would not acknowledge from 

 being wholly unaccustomed to it. 

 Sometimes, however, a grouse dog 

 of a ticklish temper will not bear 

 being constantly called to on 

 "breaking fence." A fine, free 

 ranging pointer, belonging to one 



of the brothers H y, when 



brought to an enclosed county, 

 became quite subdued and dis- 

 pirited. He could not stand the 

 rating he received for bounding 

 over the hedges, and he evidently 

 derived no enjoyment from the 

 sport, though there were plenty 

 of birds. On returning to the 

 Highlands, he quite recovered his 

 animation and perseverance. He 

 added another to the many evi- 

 dences that dogs are most attached 

 to, and at home on, the kind of 

 country they first hunted. 



02 



run so much, both when they are 

 pairing, and after the first night 

 of the young pack, that a dog 

 broken on them has necessarily 

 great practice in "roading," ("road- 

 ing," too, with the nose carried 

 high to avoid strong heather a 

 valuable instructor), whereas the 

 dog broken on partridge often be- 

 comes impatient, and breaks away 

 when he first finds grouse. The 

 former dog, moreover, will learn 

 not to "break fence," and the 

 necessity of moderating his pace 

 when hunting stubbles and turnips, 

 sooner than the latter will acquire 

 the extensive fast beat so desirable 

 on heather, where he can work for 

 hours uninterrupted by hedge, 

 ditch, or furrow ; making casts to 

 the right and left a quarter of a 

 mile in length. First impressions 

 are as strong in puppyhood as in 

 childhood ; therefore the advan- 

 tage of having such ground to 

 commence on must be obvious. 

 There are, however, favoured spots 

 in Perthshire, &c., where game so 

 abounds that close rangers are as 

 necessary as when hunting in 

 England. Alas ! even the grouse - 

 dog will take far too quickly to 

 hedge-hunting and pottering when 

 on the stubbles. It is, of course, 

 presumed that he is broken from 

 " chasing hare" a task his trainer 



