334 EMPLOYMENT OF THE DOG IN HUNTING, ETC. 
is, whether the pointer or setter shall be selected, and, if either, 
the particular breed. In order to arrive at any conclusion on this 
questio vexata, it is desirable to consider what aré the chief dif- 
ferences between the two kinds of shooting, and also between 
the two kinds of dog which have to beat the respective grounds 
on which partridge and grouse are found. Every sportsman 
knows that the former are chiefly met with in cultivated corn- 
lands, and especially on a light sandy soil suited to barley, such 
as that of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Here these birds are 
preserved in immense numbers ; and there is no heather, or other 
rough undergrowth of any kind, to scratch the skin or to wear 
away the hair on the legs, the only parts which suffer at all 
being the pads of the feet. Indeed in too many cases, according 
to my opinion, the dog is dispensed with altogether in actual 
shooting ; and the birds being driven into the turnips by spaniels 
assisted by a man on horseback, are afterwards walked up by the 
shooters, who require only a retriever to find the wounded birds. 
In wilder districts, where the birds are more scarce the pointer or 
the setter is used, but he is always worked within fifty or sixty 
yards of his master, and is never on any account suffered to “ break 
fence.” Hence the amount of ground beaten is comparatively 
small, but it is of such a nature, being composed almost entirely of 
stubble, fallow, or turnips, that it requires a good nose to find 
game, while at the same time the scent of the partridge is very 
mild as compared with that of the grouse; on the other hand, this 
latter bird is found where they are scattered indiscriminately over 
the heath-covered slopes, and where dogs are essential to success, 
because there are no turnips or other cover to drive them into, 
and they are as likely to be on one spot as another. Hence every 
inch of ground must be beaten, and often a day’s sport covers two 
or three thousand acres, or even more. The scent of the grouse 
is also stronger than that of the partridge, and from the nature 
of the heather he is disposed to lie closely, unless made wild by 
constant disturbance, so that with good dogs he is seldom put up 
out of shot. The heather is very rough and irritating, and as it 
works up between the toes it makes the interspaces extremely 
sore if they are not well covered with hair. 
From these varying circumstances it results that a careful dog, 
