72 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



posite scent of several birds from the 

 simple scent of one. Furthermore, he 

 knows instantly the difference between 

 the body scent and the foot scent of a 

 bird. And, still further, he can invaria- 

 bly tell which way the foot scent leads. 

 Did he take the heel of a trail instead of 

 the toe, he would feel that he was surely 

 coming to his second puppyhood. 



Furthermore, such a dog can tell the 

 difference between a dead and a wounded 

 bird. If his master kills the quail out- 

 right, the dog, without hesitation, rushes 

 in and retrieves it. But if it is only 

 wounded, the dog as promptly comes to 

 a point again and holds his position. 



The bloodhound's abihty to hit a trail 

 and keep it is one of the marvels of 

 nature. Hours may have passed since 

 the tracks were made. The way may 

 lead through a veritable melange of 

 odors — now down a road where sheep 

 and cattle and hogs and horses have 

 passed, now through a field where rabbits 

 and mice and moles have played, and now, 

 perchance, through a farmyard where 

 chickens and ducks have tracked over 

 every square foot — but the bloodhound 

 goes on, without deviation, toward his 

 quarry. 



THE DEI^ICACY OF A DOC's NOSF 



Of salt, man can perceive one part in 

 640 through his sense of taste ; of qui- 

 nine, one part in 152,000. Likewise, his 

 optic nerve becomes conscious of a change 

 of color when one part in 1,000,000 of 

 methyl violet is added to colorless water. 

 The delicacy of a man's olfactory nerve 

 surpasses that of his optic nerve, as his 

 Optic nerve is more sensitive than the 

 nei'ves of taste. One grain of musk will 

 go on and on for days and weeks and 

 even years permeating a whole room and 

 writing the image of its odor upon the 

 brain of man without apparent diminu- 

 tion. 



Yet man's nose is as irresponsive to the 

 scents that stir the trained dog to action 

 as a hippopotamus is irresponsive to a 

 dissertation on the fourth dimension. To 

 what astonishing delicacy, therefore, must 

 a dog's olfactory nerve attain to enable 

 him to detect such infinitesimal emana- 

 tions ! 



One cannot too highly extol the work 

 of the hunting dog. As a recent writer 

 says, "We all applaud the stiff antics of 

 the high-school-trained horse and wax 

 enthusiastic over the tricks of the lion- 

 tamer's tawny pupil, but not one in fifty 

 of us stops to reflect that the bird-dog 

 displays an intelligence far beyond these. 

 He ranges over the country as free as the 

 winter wind, but always under perfect 

 control. No bit guides him, yet he turns 

 to the right or the left at the wave of a 

 hand. No snapping whip compels obedi- 

 ence, but he obeys the call of a whistle 

 promptly and cheerfully." 



DOGS THAT OVERCOME PRIMITIVE PASSIONS 



Another writer, along the same line, 

 says : "Consider the wonderful self-con- 

 trol of the pointer. If the savage tiger or 

 the docile fow could be taught such per- 

 fect obedience, science would investigate 

 the case as abnormal ; but no one con- 

 siders it strange in a dog. The pointing 

 habit is only the momentary pause be- 

 fore the wild dog springs upon his prey, 

 developed by long training and selective 

 breeding until it is stronger than the 

 natural instinct. Think what self-control 

 is demanded to stand staunch when the 

 bird flushes, and what a hold on primitive 

 passions to pick up the bird and return it 

 gently to the master." 



Men often become devoted to their 

 hunting dogs and write about them in 

 the most striking terms. A gem that has 

 a fugitive place in a sporting journal thus 

 describes two hunting dogs : "Old Joe 

 is a strapping, lemon-marked dog, with a 

 heavy head and a tail like a couple of 

 feet of garden hose. But he is a mighty 

 hunter, as sedate as a senior deacon, and 

 as serious as a professor of Sanskrit. 

 Queen is a common-looking little rat, 

 light and racy, thin as a match-stick and 

 as nervous as the needle of a pocket 

 compass." 



SOME MARVEEOUS TAEBS 



As before stated, the stories of excep- 

 tional intelligence in dogs are without 

 number; but, alas, many of these seem 

 to reflect the enthusiasm of the dog lover 

 rather than the observations of the cold 

 seeker after truth. The London Spec- 



