CHAPTER XII. 
CARDINAL QUALITIES OF HUNTING DOGS. 
A POINT is now reached where, in a rambling 
way at least, we may properly discuss certain 
subjects which have an important bearing upon 
the one which we have been treating. It is be- 
lieved by some, possibly many, that the mouthing 
of a bird lessens, in a certain degree, the power 
of scent; that it impairs that nicety of nose 
which is so essential when game is scarce or lying 
close. The advocates of this theory, therefore, 
discourage retrieving, and decline to teach their 
dogs this accomplishment, which their opponents, 
on the contrary, consider of very great impor- 
tance. At least, those who find it impossible to 
keep more than one or a brace of dogs must con- 
sider in them the qualities of a retriever invalua- 
ble, and we might say indispensable. I have 
serious doubts if mouthing affects the nose, since 
there are so many instances where dogs have 
pointed game with their dead birds in the mouth. 
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