THE FIELD.—S8NIPE-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 setters, 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. 
Tt 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. 
