26 



GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA, 



IIH ' 1 



are bidden to go forward. With a bound the fence is 

 cleared and, regularly as the working of some faultless 

 machine, the noble animals beat the fields on a gallop, 

 with heads carried high and nostrils open, crossing each 

 other's tracks at regular intervals. Suddenly one checks 

 himself and swings around halfway, and his pace is re- 

 duced to a walk, and with careful steps and head carried 

 on a line with his body he draws slowly forward, uncer- 

 tain as yet where the birds, whose strong scent has dis- 

 covered to him their presence, are located. Carefully 

 the dog moves on, and his tail, which had been beat- 

 ing his sides with rapid strokes, is straightened and 

 becomes rigid. His companion, who had overrun the 

 scent, not being so near, sees the careful movement, and, 

 knowing the cause, turns, and with equal care follows 

 the direction of his mate. The first dog has now reached 

 the vicinity of the bevy, and what a picture he presents 

 to his master's gaze! With crouching body and tail 

 rigid, one foreleg half raised and the paw turned back- 

 ward, eyes set in a stony gaze, a frowning brow, and jaws 

 half open, with the saliva dropping from his tongue as the 

 hot scent wells up into his sensitive nostrils, he seems as if 

 carved in stone, while behind him, afraid to move another 

 step, in a similar attitude, stands motionless his mate. 

 The sportsman moves forward and speaks in low tones 

 words of encouragement to his four-footed friends, but 

 the dogs stir not, and soon their master is close to the 

 leader, when from beneath his very nose, with a whir 

 like muffled drums, hurtling and jostling each other in 

 their headstrong flight, rises the bevy of full-grown birds. 

 At the sound of wings the dogs drop to the ground with 

 their heads on the outstretched paws, and the reports 

 of the gun ring out, stopping short some swift-flying 

 birds that fall inert and lifeless to the earth, while the 



