INSTINCT OF DOGS. 139 



parison ; but, independent of the tact and ingenuity dis- 

 played by the pointer in finding game, I feel convinced 

 that if his educational advantages and temper had been the 

 same as the retriever's, he would have equalled him in 

 his own ~beat* 



To illustrate my meaning, I may mention a feat or two 

 of each : Having wounded a rabbit on the moors when 

 the pointer was behind a knoll, but fancying, from the 

 agility with which it made its escape, that I had missed 

 it altogether, I was surprised to see him shortly after- 

 wards bring a rabbit and deliberately lay it down at my 

 feet. It would have been nothing if the dog had been 

 taught to fetch and carry ; but, on the contrary, he is, of 

 course, broke to drop at the shot and never to lay a tooth 

 upon game. Had he seen me fire and afterwards stum- 

 bled upon the rabbit, he would from his breaking have 

 thought he had no business to touch it ; but, not having 

 seen the shot, he fancied he had a right to bring what he 

 had himself found upon the moor. Any person who was 

 no judge of dogs would have said, " Why, this is no more 



* Both these invaluable dogs have been under the sod for some years. 

 They died of pure old age and hard work. One day, shortly before the 

 old pointer's last 12th of August, a knowing keeper remarked to my man, 

 " Surely you don't mean to hunt that dog. Why, he is not fit to walk 

 along the road, let alone travelling the moors." Never was man more 

 " out." According to my custom, I threw off with old Cigar and his 

 comrade at eight o'clock, and hunted them till two, when they were 

 relieved by a fresh pair. I shot till near eight in the evening, and 

 bagged thirty-five brace. Fully the half fell to the old dog's point, and 

 I never saw him hunt or find better in his life. It was his twelfth 12th ! 



