DOGS 495 



with more or less intensity under certain conditions, 

 as already mentioned. 



The exigencies of the pursuit of different animals 

 determines in the main the choice of methods. It is 

 quite obvious that a noisy, impetuous method, which 

 might be successful in the pursuit of an animal that 

 trusts for escape to its wits and legs, would wholly 

 fail if employed in the pursuit of an animal which can 

 fly swiftly away. If we assume that the point is an in- 

 telligent act, useful to the dog in securing a food sup- 

 ply, there then is no more difficulty in accounting for 

 it than there is in accounting for any other phenomena 

 of canine life. Foxes and wolves draw on their prey 

 and make the point, which is merely the pause to 

 accurately locate the exact position of the prey, pre- 

 paratory to the final spring to capture. The feathering 

 and bristling of the hair on the back are not exclusive 

 traits of bird dogs. All dogs, on the eve of a bloody 

 attack, exhibit it. Every one at all familiar with the 

 habits of dogs has seen even cur dogs, strangely met, 

 draw toward each other with hair bristling, stopping 

 betimes in the attitude of a point, all concluding with 

 a final rush which may end in battle or friendship, 

 accordingly as the principals are fighters or bluffers. 

 Cats, in stalking their prey, exhibit many of the char- 

 acteristics of drawing and pointing. Whoever has 

 seen a setter or pointer make a mighty spring after 

 pausing a moment that is, pointing in an effort to 

 capture birds, has noted the amazing swiftness of the 

 act, and that to make such a supreme effort the dog 



