POINTERS AND SETTERS. 327 



on the edge of a manor, with the wind blowing on to it from 

 that over which he has no right of shooting ; — here, if he gave 

 his dog the wind in the usual way, he would drive all the birds 

 off his own beat ; and, to avoid this, he begins at the edge of it, 

 and makes his pointers (if they are well enough broken) leave 

 him and go up the other side to the far end of the field (if 

 not too long), and then beat towards him in the usual way. It 

 is true that the necessity for this kind of beating does not often 

 occur ; but sometimes a considerable number of shots are lost 

 for want of teaching it, and the perfect dog should understand it 

 thoroughly. When, therefore, the puppy has learnt to range 

 in the ordinary way, and will work to the hand well, as before 

 described, give him a lesson in this kind of beating ; and, if 

 any difficulty occurs, send a boy to lead him until he is far 

 enough away, and then let the biped loose his charge, first 

 catching the dog's eye yourself, so as to make him aware that 

 you are the person he is to range to. In a few lessons he soon 

 begins to find out the object of this departure from the usual 

 plan, and by a little perseverance he will, of his own accord, 

 when he finds he has not got the wind, work so as to make a 

 circuit and get it for himself. Nevertheless, a good dog, who 

 has a master as good as himself, should always wait for orders, 

 and there is always some excuse for very clever ones becomiug 

 headstrong when they are constantly misdirected. Let me again 

 repeat what I have observed on the importance of teaching, at 

 first, the correct mode of quartering the ground, and of per- 

 severing (without regard to standing or pointing) in the lessons 

 on this subject alone, until the puppy is tolerably perfect in 

 them. At the same time it is true that some little attention 

 may be paid to the " point ; " but this is of far less conse- 

 quence at the early stage which we are now considering. In- 



