8o How I Became a Sportsmax. 



turned out a very useful animal, she had a 

 capital nose, and would stand as firm as a rock 

 as long as the birds stopped quiet ; but if they 

 attempted to move, in she went like a shot, 

 and if they were not very quickly on the wing 

 she would very often nail one. I kept her for 

 that season, but getting tired of her pot hunt- 

 ing propensities, and wanting something a little 

 better educated, I gave her away to my sister 

 as a house dog. She was a good-looking white 

 bitch, with a black patch over the eye, and was 

 long and low, very much the stamp of the 

 present Laverack Setter. I should have bred 

 from her if I had been certain of her breed, 

 but I did not know either her father or grand- 

 father; and I thought of Somerville's advice — 



" Consider well 

 His lineage, what his fathers did of old," 



and consequently refrained from doing so. So 

 ended my first of September, and I need 

 scarcely say, that after the fatigues of a four- 

 teen hours' tramp I slept, notwithstanding the 

 excitement, the sleep of a most terribly tired 

 but very fairly satisfied young sportsman. 



