SNIPE-SHOOTING., 339 
the other, never in both together. I cannot account for this, as the weather 
apes not appear to be the cause; at least, I could not observe any marked 
. change. . 
“Almost any dog can be trained to set snipe. Water-spaniels and New- 
foundlands have been known to do it; and I once shot for part of a season 
over a little Dinmont terrier. But the dog of all dogs for that sport—or indeed 
any sport—is the old Irish’ setter, when he can be got pure. Handsome, 
courageous, hardy, and delighting in water, he .is (as an old gamekeeper 
remarked to me once) ‘a companion for any gentleman,’ The dropper is also 
a capital dog for general purposes in a wet country. One of the finest animals 
I ever saw of this kind was the produce of a cross between a Russian and a 
smooth pointer. They are, however, difficult to train and curiously ugly. 
The smooth pointer should never be used in snipe-shooting. They have a 
natural dislike to the water, and although their high breeding and courage 
make them disregard it when in pursuit of game, any one who has seen them 
cowering at their master’s heels after a hard day’s work on a cold wintry day 
cannot but feel compassion for these noble animals. 
“In training dogs for snipe-shooting they should be broken as much as 
possible to ‘hand.’ Shouting or talking in a bog ought always to be avoided ; 
more birds will be sprung in that way than by the report of the gun. No dog 
that splashes through the water, or with bad feet, should be used for snipe. 
It is in his peculiar style of going that the old Irish setter shows his supe- 
riority to all other dogs for this sport ; not pottering or plowtering among the 
reeds, like a tame drake, but moving through the marsh with a long, light, 
stealthy pace, like a panther in search of prey. 
“The system of training dogs in Ireland is, generally speaking, very bad— 
in fact, cannct well be worse. Three guineas and a hundredweight of meal 
is the usual charge ; and for this you will get plenty of so-called gamekeepers 
and trainers willing to undertake the duty, I do not object to the price, 
which is moderate enough, if the duty was properly performed ; but do object, 
and very strongly, to the fact that not one grain of the meal ever finds its way 
to the stomach of the unfortunate animal for whose benefit it was ostensibly 
bought. This would not suit the trainer’s purpose, whose object is to return 
him ‘broken’ in the shortest possible time (and broken he certainly is, with 
a vengeance). This can only be accomplished by fasting and flagellation, and 
accordingly both are put liberally in requisition ; the former by leaving the 
dog entirely to his own resources, when the chances are he takes to killing his 
own mutton ; and the latter, by the unsparing use of the whip or the butt-end 
of the gun, according as his master is drunk or out of temper. The conse- 
quences may easily be anticipated. Should he survive this treatment, he is 
returned at the end of three months, thoroughly cowed and heart-broken, and 
in such a state of starvation that his owner will have some difficulty in recog- 
nising his favourite. Should he succeed in getting once more into condition, 
it will be found that he has forgotten all he ever learned under the former 
system, and will require to be trained over again. 
“T would therefore recommend the sportsman, if he can spare time, by all 
means to break his own dogs. If he succeeds—and a little patience and temper 
are all that is required to make success vertain—he will be amply repaid, for 
a dog works far better for the man who trains him than for any one else. A 
sort of mutual understanding springs up between them ; the dog gets into his 
master’s ways, and a look or a gesture is sufficient to make him comprehend 
his meaning. Better this, surely, than the constant rating and flagellations, 
