14 DOGS FOR THE MOORS, 



Many gentlemen, when the shooting season begins, 

 are shamefully taken in by dog-breakers and others. 

 Few are aware how difficult it is to know a good dog 

 before he is shot over. The breaker shows his kennel, 

 puffing it off most unmercifully. The sportsman chooses 

 one or two dogs that suit his fancy ; they drop at the 

 sound of the pistol, and perhaps get a point or two, 

 when birds are so tame that no dog but a cur could 

 possibly put them up. The bargain is struck, the dog 

 paid for ; but, when fairly tried, shows his deficiency in 

 finding game. I have seen the breaker look round with 

 an air of the greatest triumph if a hare should start, and 

 his dog not chase : this is what any man who under- 

 stands the elements of breaking, by a little trouble, 

 and taking the dog into a preserve of hares, can soon 

 effect. 



Other obvious defects, such as not quartering the 

 ground, hunting down wind, not obeying the call or 

 signal, the veriest novice in field-sports will immediately 

 detect. It is not, however, with faults so apparent that 

 dogs for sale are generally to be charged. They are, 

 for the most part, drubbed into such show subjection * 

 that the tyro fancies them perfect, and only finds out 



* Dogs of this kind remind me of an anecdote I remember to have 

 heard from a brother sportsman, but for the truth of which I cannot 

 vouch. Walking out with a high-broke pointer, he suddenly missed 

 him, when he presently espied him soberly and submissively following 

 the heels of an old Guinea-fowl, whose reiterated cry of "Come back, 

 come back," he had thought it his duty to obey ! ! 



