336 WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 



would excel in field sports, is the power of self-re- 

 straint. To ask an animal, trembling all over with 

 delirious excitement, to lie down and remain per- 

 fectly motionless during those most trying moments 

 when the ducks are approaching and being killed, 

 is to demand of him a self-control greater than 

 would be often found in his master. Yet upon this 

 quality in the dog depends the entire question of 

 his value or worthlessness ; if he makes the slightest 

 motion, the quick eyes of the birds are sure to dis- 

 cern it ; and if he bounces up at the first discharge, 

 he will certainly destroy his master's chance of 

 using his second barrel, and perhaps upset him over 

 the side of the boat. 



It is to avoid the sharp eyes of the ducks that a 

 black color for the dog has been condemned. Amid 

 the yellow and brown reeds of the marshes, or upon 

 the reflective surface of the open water, black, from 

 its capacity for absorbing the rays of light, is visible 

 at an immense distance. Yellow, brown, or grey 

 are the best shades ; and any color is preferable to 

 black. Rod is selected by the Southerners for their 

 tolling dogs, but this is with the purpose of making 

 them attractive. 



Many persons conceive that a dark coat is warmer 

 for an animal than white, an idea that is carried into 

 practice in the ordinary winter dress of human be- 

 ings ; but it is refuted not only by the simplest prin- 

 ciples of science, but by the natural covering of the 

 animals that inhabit the cold climes of the north. The 

 polar bear is clothed in white, while the southern bear 



