230 BREAKING AXD ENTERING. 



the hand and voice, aided by the whistle. As a general rule, 

 pointers find their game by the scent being blown to them from 

 the body, constituting what is called a " body-scent," and not from 

 that left by the foot on the ground, which is called a "foot- 

 scent." Hence it is desirable in all cases to give the dog the wind, 

 that is to say, to beat up towards the " wind's eye ; " and, therefore, 

 the breaker will put his dogs to work in that direction, and then, 

 though they do not always beat directly towards the wind, yet 

 they have it blowing from the game towards them in each of their 

 crossings. (See diagram on page 228.) But suppose, as some- 

 times happens, that the sportsman can not well do this, as when 

 birds are likely to be on the edge of a manor, with the wind blow- 

 ing on to it from that over which he has no right of shooting ; 

 here, if he gave his dog the wind in the usual way, he would 

 drive all the birds off his own beat ; and, to avoid this, he begins 

 at the edge of it, and makes his pointers (if they are welT enough 

 broken) leave him, and go up the other side to the far end of the 

 field (if not too long), and then beat towards him in the usual way. 

 It is true that the necessity for this kind of beating does not often 

 occur ; but sometimes a considerable number of shots are lost for 

 want of teaching it, and the perfect dog should understand it thof- 

 oughly. When, therefore, the puppy has learned to range in the 

 ordinary way, and will work to the hand well, as before described, 

 give him a lesson in this kind of beating ; and, if any difficulty oc- 

 curs, send a boy to lead him until he is far enough away, and then 

 let the biped loose his charge, first catching the dog's eye yourself, 

 so as to make him aware that you are the person he is to range to. 

 In a few lessons, he soon begins to find out the object of this depar- 

 ture from the usual plan, and by a little perseverance he will, of his 

 own accord, when he finds he has not got the wind, work so as to 

 make a circuit, and get it for himself. Nevertheless, a good dog, 

 who has a master as good as himself, should always wait for or- 

 ders, and there is always some excuse for very clever ones becom- 

 ing headstrong when they are constantly misdirected. Let me 

 again repeat what I have observed on the importance of teaching, 

 at first, the correct mode of quartering the ground, and of perse- 



