162 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



health, or else overloaded with, fat and in soft flesh. 

 Last, but by no means least, get your dog's confidence 

 and affection, and let him have your own. Such a dog as 

 I have described is well worthy of it — ^more so, perhaps, 

 than some of the men in whose society you take pleasure. 

 Until your dog is thoroughly educated and trained, let the 

 number of birds bagged be a ma;tter of secondary impor- 

 tance. Ko sportsman is likely to have a thoroughly 

 trained dog unless he can enjoy leaving his gun at home, 

 and with whip and whistle work his dogs, while some 

 friend does the shooting. 



After j^our dog is thoroughly trained, with the habit 

 of obedience firmly fixed (I again use the expression, for 

 it seems to me to express exactly the idea which I wish 

 to convey), you can enjoy yourself fully in pursuit of 

 Bob Whites, undisturbed by the many petty vexations 

 which are entailed upon a sportsman by the use of half- 

 trained dogs. A man can hardly overestimate the good 

 qualities of a first-class field-dog, but there are men who 

 fail properly to appreciate our canine friends. In my 

 kennel-yard there is a modest little tomb, covered by the 

 twining vines of the honey-suckle, which also coil 

 around a marble monument, upon which is chiseled the 

 name of a faithful pointer, whose remains are buried 

 beneath it. This tribute of respect to a dumb animal 

 occasionally elicits expressions of surprise from some of 

 those who see it. It is a matter of regret to me, that I 

 can not read to them a poem which I read many years ago, 

 and enjoyed iiftensely, but which I have nev^r been able 

 to find again. It was to me full of pathos. A man of 

 strange appearance, travel-stained and worn, entered the 

 studio of a famous Grrecian sculptor. He was accom- 

 panied by a noble dog, which, like his master, showed 

 the effects of age and want. The stranger, drawing from 

 his ragged vestments a precious stone, graven with a 



