252 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
could take these little dogs among any quantity of 
game, and they would not give the least trouble; 
yet when ordered, they were unsurpassed for rousing 
game. The shortest and softest whistle they would 
heed instantly, and never would dream of chasing 
or starting to chase without orders. I remember 
urging one of them on when I thought a rat was 
moving in the bottom of a hedge; the little dog 
made a rush, but stopped to command when within 
a foot of a tiny leveret. How many dogs would 
. have done that—how many terriers? Both these 
little dogs would tell you better than a ferret 
whether there was anything in a burrow. They 
would steal swiftly but silently from hole to hole, 
suddenly to halt, uplift a paw, and look round, with 
a wistful, winking expression, as much as to say, 
‘ Here we are! Don’t make a row.’ And then they 
would come away—no raving, barking, tearing, and 
spoiling all chance of bolting. They never offered 
to meddle with a ferret. Once one of them was 
waiting near a rabbit-hole, and a ferret sprang out 
and bit it on the nose; even then there was no 
breach of the peace. However well-broken a dog - 
is to ferrets, it cannot be blamed for acting in self- 
defence when attacked by a ferret; so train your 
dogs always to make way for ferrets. 
Both these little terriers would stand ready at the 
side of any hole you wished them; and, though every 
muscle of their little bodies might be shivering with 
