DOGS FOR THE MOORS. 129 



the former putting up game, but by the latter getting 

 more points. Should there be no tip-top dog at hand to 

 compete with, the only other criterion, though not at all 

 an infallible one, is the manner of finding game. The 

 sportsman must watch most narrowly the moment when 

 the dog first winds : if he throws up his head, and moves 

 boldly and confidently forward, before settling on his 

 point, it is a very good sign ; if, on the contrary, he 

 keeps pottering about, trying first one side, then another, 

 with his nose sometimes close upon the ground, even though 

 at last he comes to a handsome point, I should think it 

 most probable that he is a badly-bred inferior animal. 



Of all dogs, the worst for the moors is what is called 

 a near ranger. Such flinchers may do well enough in 

 preserved partridge ground, but on the steep hillside it 

 is quite sickening to see their everlasting canter fifteen or 

 twenty yards on each side. The dog-breaker may say 

 that although the dog ranges near, he is working as hard 

 as his more high-mettled competitor. For my own part, 

 I never saw one travel in that way that either worked so 

 hard, kept it up so well, or found half as much game as 

 a free-hunting dog. 



Let your pointers be first-rate, and a couple will then 

 be quite enough to hunt at a time ; more only encumber. 

 If well broke, they will not pass over the near game, and 

 when birds are scattered^ (the only time when the near- 

 ranging potterers are in their element,) will find them one 

 by one, with equal certainty and greater despatch. Many 

 gentlemen, however, take no trouble about procuring good 



