80 BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 



If stopping is natural to the pointer and setter, 

 which, more or less, it is, we may fairly infer that 

 when he does not stop, he has not scented game, 

 and such, no doubt, is in most cases the fact. It is, 

 therefore, no more j ustifiable to punish him for this, 

 than to punish a deaf man because he does not hear 

 sounds perceptible to other persons. That unmer- 

 ciful flogging may in time cause a dog to run into 

 game less frequently than he might at first do, I 

 admit ; but it is a very severe, nay, cruel remedy for 

 a defect in nature : it cannot, of course, make his 

 nose more keen ; its only effect can be this — from 

 being always severely beaten whenever he does run 

 into birds, he becomes so truly alarmed lest he should 

 do so, that he ranges more leisurely, and, in fact, does 

 his business in fear and trembling. It would be far 

 better, and more merciful, to give such an animal to 

 some one wanting a sharp yard dog, which many 

 pointers are : a really valuable dog he never can 

 become — he has not the physical requisites for one ; 

 if he is fast, and makes use of his speed in ranging, 

 he will certainly run into birds, and if he hunts care- 



