68 FEATHERED GAME 
from the spot on which it has alighted thus re- 
duces its body scent to a minimum and leaves 
no footscent to assist its enemy? The best of 
dogs may sometimes walk straight through a 
covey thus hidden and unless some frightened 
bird stirs or breaks away he has little chance 
of discovering their presence. Whether the 
bird is voluntarily ‘‘witholding its scent’’ or 
is merely making itself as small as possible in 
order to avoid detection in this hugging the 
feathers down is an open question. There is 
no doubt that dogs are sometimes unaccount- 
ably at fault in such cases. J have seen some- 
thing similar in the woodcock covers, when a 
woodcock, killed cleanly in the air and fallen 
into a slight hollow in the ground, its wings 
folded close to its sides, head and beak under- 
neath, has made a good dog some minutes’ 
work to locate it. But when with the gunbar- 
rels the bird was stirred ever so slightly, the 
dog hunting fifteen yards away, puzzled and 
totally at loss, wheeled to a point on the instant 
and came quickly in and retrieved the bird. 
Even the ruffed grouse gets credit for the same 
thing in less measure, because she is very care- 
ful in her manner of approaching and leaving 
