182 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
Russian setters have what is called more point, they 
couch lower, and steal in more silently on their game than 
any other dog, consequently they are the best in the 
world over which to shoot game, when it is wild. Could 
they be procured, I think of all sporting dogs they are the 
most adapted for ordinary American shooting, and the 
best of all for beginners. They have less style, and do 
not range so high as the English or Irish dogs, but that 
is no disadvantage for America, where there is so much 
covert shooting. 
Setters should range wide and swiftly, with the head 
well up; dogs which puzzle on the ground except on bad 
scenting days, or in emergency on the cold trail of a 
wounded animal, have generally bad noses; they should, 
if hunting two together, cross each other regularly on 
their beat, if singly, quarter the ground evenly in front of 
the shooter; they should, at each turn, invariably cast 
forward so as not to come on old ground, and never cross 
backward, behind the shooter. This is a, very bad fault, 
causing much delay and loss of time, and it is hard to 
cure when once acquired. 
The habit of quartering ground well is little under- 
stood, or taught, even by professed breakers in America, 
though it is of first importance. Most dog breakers are 
content, when a dog stands stanchly on his game, backs 
his comrade, drops to charge at the word, and retrieves 
cleverly, to let him run about the ground as he will at his 
own pleasure. 
There is no greater error. A dog, which does so, will 
béat much of his ground twice or thrice over, and leave 
