118 The Carntvora. 
It is impossible for us with our obtuse senses to realise the 
extreme delicacy and discriminating power of the dog’s nose. 
What odour can we conceive the imprint of a stag’s foot to 
leave behind it? Yet the dog detects something long after 
the animal has passed over the ground. For twenty minutes 
after the stag is released from the cart enough remains of 
his odour to enable the hounds to go off in full cry. More 
remarkable still is the power of discrimination shown in 
distinguishing a “forward” from a “back” scent, which I 
believe experienced hounds can do without fail. Unless a 
hunting animal could ascertain by some difference in the 
scent which way an animal had gone, he could only catch 
it by accidentally hitting on the right direction; but when 
hounds come across the trail of a fox or hare, we see them 
run here and there for a few moments, and finally settle 
down on the forward scent. Is, then, the scent of each suc- 
ceeding footprint appreciably, however slightly, stronger than 
the lastP In experimenting with my own dogs, I have 
walked in and out among the shrubberies and flower beds, 
and round sticks set up at intervals on the lawn of a large 
pleasure ground, and then from a place of concealment 
watched them running the trail. The person who was 
instructed to release them within a given time—say five 
minutes—would, in accordance with direction, lead them 
across some part of the trail at a spot previously agreed upon. 
For a few moments they might run about casting wildly and 
excitedly, but this hesitation was soon replaced by confident 
hunting on the forward scent. 
The difference in the facility with which even first-rate 
retrievers, and, indeed dogs of all breeds, are capable of 
tracking their masters is very marked. Carlo I. was the 
most accomplished man-hunter among my own dogs, and 
I never met with his equal anywhere. The circumstances 
of his early life may account for this. When he was just 
able to carry a duck he used to accompany me to the small 
creeks on Moreton ‘Bay to be introduced to the business 
