105 



with the shot that is obtained by it, as by the 

 seeming better chance of banging at a bird 

 trodden up almost within touch of the dog's 

 nose ; but, in the name of fortune ! what can 

 you expect to make of the former of those just 

 quoted, without it? The bird, it is true, is fre- 

 quently driven up by this means at some dis- 

 tance ; but be it noted, generally speaking, it 

 makes off so nearly in a right line that it can 

 hardly be missed. 



I have been induced to state this instance of 

 a mismanaged point with a precision of circum- 

 stances, and with somewhat of local application 

 to you, because I have reason to think there 

 may be some truth in the above notion, that 

 the birds which will form the chief of your 

 acquaintance do "feed down the wind." My 

 evidence for it is the recollection of the conduct 

 of an old dog, who, as the associate of a keen 

 and practised poacher on the moors whom I 

 once knew, had acquired a deal of self-taught 

 sagacity; and I have seen him, when baffled 

 upon a haunt, and unable to make out an 

 absolute find, nay, I have seen him, almost on 

 the first touch of haunt, take a sweep off, in 

 something between a crouch and a run, as hard 

 as he could go, deaf to every call, as though he 

 were mad, two hundred yards or more directly 



