THE DOG. 83 



less cured of this habit. Whenever, therefore, you 

 perdeive your young dog is following the track of par- 

 tridge down wind, call to him in an angry tone, hold 

 up ! he will then become uneasy and agitated, going 

 first on one side, and then on the other, till the wind 

 brings him the scent. He will only have to find the 

 game four or five times in this way, when he will per- 

 haps take the wind of himself, and hunt with his nose 

 elevated. Should this not be the case, recourse must 

 be had to the puzzle peg. 



Partridges lie much better to dogs that wind them, 

 than to those that follow by the track. The dog that 

 winds the scent approaches the birds by degrees, and 

 that more or less as he finds them either shy or tame; 

 or, in other words, whether they lie well, which 'he is 

 enabled to discover by the scent which they emit 

 when they are uneasy; and notwithstanding they see 

 him hunt round them, they will not be so much 

 alarmed, because they do not perceive that he is fol- 

 lowing them. Nothing disturbs birds more than for 

 them to see a dog tracing their footsteps. When a 

 dog follows them in this manner down wind, he ge- 

 nerally springs them; for he is not able to take the 

 scent properly until he is upon them, and then they 

 will not lie. Dogs that carry their heads high will 

 always find the most game. 



Be careful to keep your young dog regularly to his 

 work, and be very strict with him just as he is getting 

 staunch, as the first season he is shot over generally 

 determines his worth : at this period, numbers :,* 



