NOSES. 



W. E. WATT. 



THE Rev. Sam Jones says of a 

 trained bird dog that he once 

 saw in the tall grass jumping 

 up to get signals from his mas- 

 ter's hand, moving to the right or left. 

 or lying down without a word spoken: 

 "When I saw the faithfulness of that 

 animal in carrying out the wishes of 

 its human master I was ashamed of 

 myself in the presence of the dog." 



A hunting dog is busy with eye and 

 ear. Every nerve seems strained to 

 catch the slightest indication of game. 

 But those who know the dog best 

 know he is mainly occupied with his 

 nose. That delicate organ dilates and 

 adjusts itself constantly to every breath 

 of air. 



The bird dog knows of the presence 

 of a game bird before he can see it. 

 He scents its location at long range. 

 He is trained to "stand" when he 

 recognizes the scent. With one paw 

 lifted, his nose and tail stretched out 

 to their greatest reach, he points his 

 master to the spot where the game is 

 to be found. At the word of command 

 he moves cautiously forward towards 

 the bird, and when his master is ready 

 another word causes the dog to "flush" 

 the bird, or make it take wing. 



The hound upon the track of fox or 

 deer has remarkable power, not only 

 of following the exact track made by 

 the pursued animal, even when ,some 

 hours have elapsed since the game 

 passed that way, but his scent is so 

 keen that in many instances he is able 

 to tell, when he comes upon such a 

 track, which way the deer or fox was 

 running. Sometimes the hound "takes 

 the back track," but the best dogs are 

 usually so positive in this sense that 

 they make no mistakes as to which 

 way the animal has traveled. 



It is common knowledge, but none 



the less marvelous, that an ordinary 

 dog is usually able to follow his mas- 

 ter by scent alone through the crowded 

 streets of the city or across fields 

 where a thousand fragrant flowers and 

 grasses seem to arise on purpose to 

 baffle him. 



This marvelous power is not con- 

 fined to dogs. Many other animals 

 possess it in a remarkable degree. The 

 keenness of this sense in deer, ante- 

 lopes, and other wild ruminants is so 

 well known that hunters despair of 

 ever approaching them except from 

 the side which gives them the wind in 

 their faces so that their own peculiar 

 scent may be carried away from the 

 extremely sensitive nostrils of their 

 game. The hippopotamus has this 

 sense highly developed and can dis- 

 cover his human enemy without get- 

 ting sight of him or hearing his ap- 

 proach. 



The polar bear climbs upon an ice- 

 berg and sniffs afar the dead whale 

 floating his way, although still miles 

 toward the horizon. The camel in the 

 desert is often saved from death by the 

 keenness and accuracy of his olfactory 

 organs, which tell him the direction he 

 must take to fill his depleted reservoir 

 with water. 



The North American Indian smells 

 as keenly as he sees, for he can not 

 only detect the presence of human be- 

 ings by his nose alone, but also surely 

 tell whether they are of his own or the 

 suspected white race. In the Massa- 

 chusetts Asylum for the Blind was a 

 mute girl named Julia Brace, who 

 knew her friends and acquaintances by 

 the peculiar odors of their hands. Not 

 being able to see them or converse 

 with them, she was compelled to dis- 

 tinguish them by the sense of 

 smell alone. So remarkable were her 



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