376 



SHOOTING. 



THE SPANIEL, COCK DOG, OR SPRINGER. 



Spaniels are the best dogs for beating covers, 

 provided they can be kept near the gun. They 

 are generally expected to give tongue when game 

 is flushed : some spaniels will give notice of game 

 before it rises, which is very well where wood- 

 cocks only are expected to be found. Woodcock 

 and pheasant shooting are often combined ; when 

 that is the case, a noisy cry is not desirable : 

 pheasant shooting cannot be conducted too quietly 

 where covers are limited. Wherever the under- 

 wood is so thick that the shooter cannot keep his 

 eye on the dogs, spaniels are to be preferred to 

 pointers or setters, whatever species of game the 

 shooter may be in pursuit of. When spaniels are 

 brought to such a state of discipline as to be ser- 

 viceable in an open country, they will require no 

 further tutoring to fit them for the woods, unless 

 it be that the eye of their master not being always 

 on them, they begin to ramble. The efficiency of 

 the training of spaniels for cover-shooting depends, 



some good brisk morning choose a nice piece of ground, where you 

 are likely to find. Take care to give him the wind, i. e. to let him 

 have the wind blowing in his face, wave your hand with ' hey on good 

 dog,' and let him run off to the right hand to the distance of about 

 eighty yards." (We suggest thirty.) " Call him in, and, by another 

 wave of the hand, let him go off to the same distance to the left. 

 Walk straightforward with your eye always on him. Go on and let 

 him keep crossing you from right to left, and vice versa, calling him 

 in when at the limit of his range. This is a difficult lesson, and re- 

 quires great nicety in teaching. Never let him hunt the same ground 

 twice over. Always have your eye on him, and watch every motion." 

 New Sporting Magazine, vol. v. No. 28, p. 256. 



