252 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



could take these little dogs among any quantity of 

 game, and they would not give the least trouble ; 

 yet when ordered, they were unsurpassed for rousing 

 game. The shortest and softest whistle they would 

 heed instantly, and never would dream of chasing 

 or starting to chase without orders. I remember 

 urging one of them on when I thought a rat was 

 moving in the bottom of a hedge ; the little dog 

 made a rush, but stopped to command when within 

 a foot of a tiny leveret. How many dogs would 

 have done that how many terriers ? Both these 

 little dogs would tell you better than a ferret 

 whether there was anything in a burrow. They 

 would steal swiftly but silently from hole to hole, 

 suddenly to halt, uplift a paw, and look round, with 

 a wistful, winking expression, as much as to say, 

 * Here we are ! Don't make a row.' And then they 

 would come away no raving, barking, tearing, and 

 spoiling all chance of bolting. They never offered 

 to meddle with a ferret. Once one of them was 

 waiting near a rabbit-hole, and a ferret sprang out 

 and bit it on the nose ; even then there was no 

 breach of the peace. However well- broken a dog 

 is to ferrets, it cannot be blamed for acting in self- 

 defence when attacked by a ferret ; so train your 

 dogs always to make way for ferrets. 



Both these little terriers would stand ready at the 

 side of any hole you wished them ; and, though every 

 muscle of their little bodies might be shivering with 



