Sketches in the East and West 285 



" He's blinking. There are birds and he won't 

 leave them, but he won't point while he sees you. 

 He doesn't trust strangers. He was thrashed 

 severely several times when a pup for flushing, 

 and he connected the punishment with the birds 

 in his way of thinking. He's a brother to King's 

 Rod. You know Rod was going to be one of 

 the great champions, but he got handler-shy for 

 the same reason. It took John L. Barker a 

 whole season to drive the fear of birds out of 

 Rod. All that Kingston litter were extremely 

 sensitive to punishment. You take the team and 

 pretend you are driving off. I'll get down and 

 see whether Dick won't point." 



Sure enough, when I turned the team away, 

 Dick cut his eye at me and gradually drew on 

 a bevy of quail. When flushed, they scattered, 

 near the draw. The trainer did not shoot, ex- 

 plaining that he wished to have Tony under 

 control before a bird fell. Each dog began to 

 make single points rapidly. At every flush Tony 

 would look eagerly for the bird to drop. With 

 a dozen singles thus located in the draw, Dick 

 was returned to the wagon and Tony left with 

 the trainer. 



" Get down and watch this crazy retriever." 

 We left the wagon standing and took up Tony's 

 case. A single point in the draw, a plain flight, 

 a clean shot, and a dead bird. It had scarcely 



