62 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



He would give critical sniffs, with head raised 

 and lowered alternately, and then would either 

 trot indifferently away or else stand rigid with 

 quickly vibrating tail and nose pointing towards 

 the bush. The other dosfs seemed to understand 

 instantly what was required of them, and they 

 would quickly surround the covert. When they 

 were in their places, and not until then, the cun- 

 ning old schemer would plunge with a bound 

 into the furze, and out would dash a hare or 

 rabbit, often into the very jaws of one of the 

 beagles. 



By this artifice, which had never been taught 

 them by man, the pack when hunting for them- 

 selves would doubtless often secure a meal, pre- 

 ceded by the delight of killing without the weari- 

 some process of tiring out a hare. 



Now it appears to me that this habit of the 

 leader of the pack — a habit which, from its 

 similarity to what has been observed in the 

 case of such widely separated Canidae as the 

 dingo, wolf, and hyena-dog, is one that is trace- 

 able to very remote wild ancestors — is the basis 

 of that peculiar talent in the pointer or setter 

 which adds to the piquancy of a day's shootino- 

 and to the weight of the bag. 



