THE PARTRIDGE. 121 



considerably in advance of the shooter, and cannot therefore be so 

 well controlled or brought to heel before being ordered to bring the 

 bird. Any kind of a dog almost of the spaniel or even terrier 

 breed can be taught this duty, and no doubt would prove very ser- 

 viceable in recovering many birds, in the course of a day's hunt, 

 that would otherwise be lost. 



There are few retrievers, even the best of them, but that will at 

 times mouth or bite their game ; and some can never be taught to 

 handle birds tenderly. The best plan to make a young dog gentle 

 with game, is to practise him on a stuffed partridge having wires 

 running through the body and the sharp points extending a trifle 

 from beneath the feathers, so that when he attempts to bite or 

 mouth the bird the wires will prick his jaws pretty severely. This 

 is a most effectual method, if persevered in for a little while, and 

 will even do much towards correcting the vice in an old dog. If 

 this practice is tried in the stubble-field, it is better that the bird 

 be rubbed on the breast or back with a piece of cheese or fresh 

 meat, so as to give it an odor or artificial scent ; otherwise the dog 

 cannot find it very easily ; or, what is still better by far, rub the 

 stuffed bird with a genuine partridge, which will impart to its 

 feathers a temporary effluvium that the dog will at once recognise, 

 and therefore not hesitate to seize for the purpose of fetching. 



A dog that will industriously and perseveringly hunt up wounded 

 or dead birds when so ordered, we consider absolutely a sine qud 

 non in shooting. In truth, a dog that will not assist his master in 

 this important service we would almost consider worthless for par- 

 tridge-shooting in some particular sections of country. Every dog 

 can be taught this duty without much trouble, although at first it is 

 often necessary to exercise, with young and high-strung animals, 

 considerable patience and perseverance, so as to confine their at- 

 tention to the particular spot where the game is supposed to have 

 fallen, thus giving them a fair opportunity of catching the scent 

 of the bird if dead, or of getting upon the track of it if only 

 wounded. When a dog, more particularly a well-bred setter, has 

 once acquired a tact and fondness for this particular duty, he is 



