THE WATER SPANIEL. 215 
as the ruffed grouse, the spotted or spruce grouse of 
Canada, the red-necked or willow grouse of Vermont, 
Maine, the British Provinces and Labrador, in the vast 
wooded wildernesses where they abound, and to chase them 
when flushed to the tree, in which they besiege them; 
keeping them motionless by their sharp barking, by which 
also they inform the shooter of their whereabout, until he 
can come up, and knock them off their perch by a felon 
shot. 
For this work, I cannot call it sport, nor those who 
pursue it sportsmen, the smaller water-spaniel is the animal 
best adapted. Ihave seen a brace so thoroughly broke, 
and so steady, that they were the best dogs I ever shot over 
for autumn snipe-shooting, but this is rarely the case. 
Where, however, much inland duck-shooting is to be 
had on ground where snipe and perhaps woodcock also 
feed—and there is much ground of that nature in Amer- 
ica—no dogs can compete them, as they combine great 
powere of finding game, with vast endurance, steadiness 
sufficient to enable them to be shot over satisfactorily— 
though not that of the perfect pointer or setter—accompa- 
nied by an ability to recover wounded wild fowl to a degree 
possessed by no other animal, and without which it is use- 
less to think of making a bag of wild fowl on inland 
waters, 
