98 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



old dog leaves nothing behind him, searching every corner. 

 This is acquired knowledge. Neither does all depend 

 upon hereditary predisposition as exhibited in the various 

 breeds — the setter, the pointer, the spaniel, or greyhound 

 — and their especial drift of brain ; their capacity is not 

 wholly confined to one sphere. They possess an initiating 

 power — what in man is called originality, invention, dis- 

 covery : they make experiments. 



I had a pointer that exhibited this faculty in a curious 

 manner. She was weakly when young, and for that 

 reason, together with other circumstances, was never 

 properly trained : a fact that may perhaps have prevented 

 her ' mind ' from congealing into the stolidity of routine. 

 She became an outdoor pet, and followed at heel every- 

 where. One day some ponds were netted, and of the fish 

 taken a few chanced to be placed in a great stone trough 

 from which cattle drank in the yard — a common thing in 

 the country. Some 'time afterwards, the trough being 

 foul, the fish — they were roach, tench, perch, and one 

 small jack — were removed to a shallow tub while it was 

 being cleansed. In this tub, being scarcely a foot deep 

 though broad, the fish were of course distinctly visible, 

 and at once became an object of the most intense interest 

 to the pointer. She would not leave it ; but stood watch- 

 ing every motion of the fish, with her head now on one 

 side, now on the other. There she must have remained 

 some hours, and was found at last in the act of removing 



