THE FIELD. SNIPE-SHOOTING. 257 



It is a far more rare quality than the other, and to its 

 rarity is attributable the idea entertained by so many, 

 that speed is dangerous in a dog used in pursuit of wild 

 and easily scared birds, and that slowness is the only 

 guarantee for sureness. Such is not the case. All good 

 dogs, long used to sport and experienced in finding game, 

 know as well, often better than their owners, what is and 

 ■what is not likely ground on which to find it. Some, as I 

 said before, appear to possess this knowledge by heredi- 

 tary instinct, as they do that of standing and backing, natu- 

 rally and without instruction. 



These dogs while racing, as they should, at a gallop, 

 •whether pointers or tetters, over their general range, the 

 instant they come upon ground which their instinct or 

 experience tells them to be likely for their game, will fall 

 into a trot, beat it inch by inch, whipping their sides with 

 their sterns, and if they find the much-wished scent, will 

 point stiff as statues ; if not, having beat it out to the end, 

 will go off again, heads up and sterns down, at racing pace, 

 until they come to another likely spot, when they will 

 repeat the same operation, ad infinitum. 



It follows, as a matter of course, that a person hunting 

 with one such dog will get over two or three times as much 

 ground, with not an iota more danger of flushing a hard- 

 lying bird, as one hunting the much-belauded and recom- 

 mended of authorities, old, slow pointer ; and, therefore, 

 other things being equal, will have twice or thrice the 

 chance of finding game. Again, a person shooting over a 

 brace of such dogs, will necessarily double his chance of 

 filling his bag. 



