250 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 

 foxes and their preservation for the hounds, few 

 keepers would be required to protect game. Nor 

 would there be those useful little sums to the keeper's 

 credit on account of litters, finds, and stopping. 



v * * 



Nobody can persuade a gamekeeper that dogs lack 

 reasoning powers. We were watching a terrier at 



work, and she gave us a pretty example 

 The of something very like intelligence. A 



Terrier pheasant was winged, fell on a bare field, 



and ran for a thick dell the terrier in 

 pursuit. She made one or two ineffectual attempts 

 to gather the bird, until within a score of yards of 

 the dell then she raced ahead. She seemed to 

 realise that there was so much cover in the dell that 

 direct attempts to take the bird were risky and she 

 proceeded to work the pheasant to a safe distance 

 from the cover before tackling it again, this time 

 effectively. 



When this little terrier has marked a rabbit or a 

 rat in a patch of grass or brambles, her common sense 

 tells her that if she dives in after her quarry it may 

 dash out unseen by her, by reason of the grass or 

 brambles. So she stands by, and stamps, and other- 

 wise tries to make her game bolt, in a way which 

 will allow her to see the direction ; and she is seldom 

 baffled. It is difficult to decide whether this terrier 

 is more or less reasonable than her kennel companion, 

 a retriever, when feeding-time comes. If at feeding- 



