204 ; The Carnivora. 
x 
4 
a long period, and, therefore, probably reflect upon them in 
the interval, is certain. There is such a case in my Aus- 
tralian diary. Having shot a couple of teal, where it was 
extremely difficult for my retriever Carlo I. to work, as the 
ground was covered by shallow water, in which lay scores 
of trees felled by a hurricane, and pitched about in con- 
fusion one over another, I picked up one of the birds; and, 
seeing that the dog was unlikely to recover the other—a 
winged bird, diving among the débris of broken branches—I 
called him off; much to his disappointment; for he would 
have felt with his nose under every half-immersed log in the 
swamp, rather than have left a bird he knew to be hiding 
somewhere at hand. It was quite a week afterwards that 
I was in the neighbourhood, but at first unconscious of being 
near the place, when, looking up in my face pleadingly, my 
friend began to show signs of anxiety. Thinking he had 
some good reason for this, I indulged him, followed his lead, 
and soon found myself at the spot where we had left the 
wounded teal. Here he went to work as if the bird had but 
just fallen, and I let him have a few minutes at it, after 
which he came off with a determined air, and gave it up. 
The lost bird had long ago departed from my memory, 
until recalled by the dog’s actions. Not so my friend—he 
had it down in his “shooter’s diary,” a blot on his pro- 
fessional reputation, to be wiped off if possible; so that, as 
soon as he neared the place, he asked leave to make another 
effort. 
Towards the evening of a long day’s snipe shooting on 
Dartmoor, a party, of whom the late Sir Robert Torrens 
(author of the famous Registration of Titles to Land Act, 
adopted by the Australian colonies) was one, were walking 
home along the banks of the Dart, when the same dog 
flushed a widgeon, which fell to my gun, in the river, and, 
of course, instantly dived. I said not a word to the dog. 
He did not plunge into the river there after the bird, but 
galloped fifty or sixty yards down stream, and then entered 
