MY DOGS AND OTHERS 255 
smitten with the cerebral form and... ‘ Beauty’ 
was her name, and a beauty she was. I had several 
other Clumbers, but never another ‘ Beauty.’ 
It is curious how dogs, individually, become ac- 
complished in special ways that perhaps they never 
could be taught. The first time I took my Clumber, 
‘ Beauty,’ to a covert shoot she distinguished herself 
by pinching a boy’s nose. I laid some dead pheasants 
on a ride, and the boy stooped to pick up one, when 
‘Beauty ’ sprang at his face in the most business- 
like manner. Ever afterwards, if she had seen me 
lay down game, she would allow no one to touch it ; 
beaters, stops, loaders, guns—all were the same to 
her. Again, one of my terriers, when scratching 
after a rat, always knew instantly if the rat had 
bolted, seen or unseen—I suppose, by some fine 
discrimination in the scent. This would be a 
difficult thing to teach a dog. Another terrier 
nothing would induce to stay at a burrow if a ferret 
or another dog were operating on the holes; she 
preferred to keep watch in the main run leading 
from the burrow. From the first she took to this 
plan of her own accord. My favourite retriever, 
whose name was ‘ Floss,’ was an expert at ratting ; 
it never made any difference to her mouth. Of 
course, I did not enter her to rats until she had 
arrived at years of discretion. She was handicapped 
by her size; but where space permitted, the way 
she would sweep up the largest rat was worth 
