CHAPTER II. 
DOGS. 
§11. A Goop poe is one of the most faithful, respectful, 
affectionate and sensible of brutes; deference to such rare 
qualities demands a chapter, however brief. A trained dog is 
the indispensable servant of the sportsman in his pursuit of 
most kinds of game; but I trust I am guilty of no discourtesy 
to the noble animal, when I say that he is a luxury rather than 
a necessity to the collector—a pleasant companion, who knows 
almost everything except how to talk, who converses with his 
eyes and ears and tail, shares comforts and discomforts with 
equal alacrity, and occasionally makes himself useful. So 
far as a collector’s work tallies with that of a sportsman, the 
dog is equally useful to both; but finding and telling of game 
aside, your dog’s services are restricted to companionship and 
retrieving. He may, indeed, flush many sorts of birds for 
you; but he does it, if at all, at random, while capering 
about; for the brute intellect is limited after all, and cannot 
comprehend a naturalist. The best trained setter or pointer 
that ever marked a quail could not be made to understand 
what you are about, and it would ruin him for sporting pur- 
poses if he did. Take a well-bred, high-toned dog out with 
you, and the chances are he will soon trot home in disgust 
at. your performances with jack-sparrows and tomtits. It 
implies such a lowering and perversion of a good dog’s in- 
stincts to make him really a useful servant of yours, that I am 
_half inclined to say nothing about retrieving, and tell you to 
make a companion of your dog, or let him alone. I was 
followed for several years by ‘‘ the best dog Lever saw’’ (every 
one’s gun, dog, and child is the best ever seen), and a first- 
rate retriever; yet I always preferred, when practicable, to 
pick up my own birds, rather than let a delicate plumage into 
a dog’s mouth, and scolded away the poor brute so often, 
that she very properly returned the compliment, in the end, by 
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