A COCKER SPANIEL AS A RETRIEVER. 



JAMES HANKS. 



A man living near Lancashire, England, 

 made me a present of a handsome cocker 

 spaniel. As soon as the dog landed in St. 

 Paul, I went from Great Falls, Montana, 

 after him and took him home with me. He 

 is a beauty. His registered name is Darby. 

 He weighs about 50 pounds, has large feet, 

 heavy, short legs, and a large body, covered 

 with a heavy coat of fine, wavy, jet-black 

 hair. He is so close to the ground that he 

 has the appearance of being small and very 

 fat. 



I found he was well broken and worked to 

 perfection on grouse and ducks; but I 

 thought him too small to handle geese. 



In March I heard there were plenty of 

 geese on the Republican river, so I went to 

 Culbertson, Nebraska, which is situated on 

 that river a short distance East of the Colo- 

 rado line. There I met Bill Clark, of Lin- 

 coln, Nebraska, who joined me with the in- 

 tention of getting a few geese. The Repub- 

 lican is, like the Platte, wide and made up of 

 narrow channels of shallow water and sand 

 bars. On these bars thousands of geese 

 would sit and visit without fear of our mo- 

 lesting them. The shores were destitute of 

 any kind of cover except grass, so what few 

 geese anyone killed were shot with long 

 range rifles. " 



After wandering along the shore one 

 whole, long, cold, cheerless day, feasting our 

 eyes on the noisy, babbling flocks on the 

 bars, who utterly ignored our presence, we 

 returned to town hungry, tired, and discour- 

 aged. Even Darby looked disgusted. After 

 supper Bill and I put up a job on those 

 geese. We got a carpenter to make us a 

 dozen decoys out of %. inch stuff, according 

 to our own artistic design, and the next 

 night we each took a decoy to our room to 

 paint as best we could from memory. The 

 comparison next morning was laughable. 

 They didn't look much alike, yet I think we 

 both got valuable pointers in painting. At 

 any rate we finished the painting during the 

 day. 



Next morning bright and early we started, 

 driving along the river till we found a small 

 island, about 40 feet long, covered with long 

 grass. We waded out to it, carrying the de- 

 coys and my gun, a 10 gauge. We dug a 

 hole one spade deep, piling the dirt around 

 the hole, and covered the fresh dirt with hay. 

 We placed our decoys about 30 feet away 

 and were completing our blind when Bill 

 sang out, " Look out! Get down! " 



We just had time to jump in our blind 

 when a flock of geese lit within a few feet of 

 our decoys. I had broken my gun. Bill, to 

 hurry up matters, thrust in 2 shells, which 

 proved to be No. 12 — the size of his gun. 

 They slipped past the extracter so it was im- 

 possible to close the gun or get the shells 

 out. We were 2 busy men for a few seconds, 

 till at last Bill got a long stick and punched 

 the shells out; but the game had fled and left 

 him disconsolate. 



We got Bill's gun, lunch, etc., over to our 

 blind and were barely ready for business 

 when another flock gave us a call. That 

 time we got 4 geese. Three fell near the de- 

 coys and one fell, winged, over 100 yards 

 away. It was making for cover when Dar- 

 by, passing the dead birds, caught the 

 wounded one by the wing, threw it up till it 

 rested on his back and brought it over sand 

 and water with perfect ease. 



That day and the next we killed 23 geese 

 and Darby brought them all. One goose 

 fell from the flock after they had gone 34 

 mile beyond the opposite shore. When it 

 fell Darby, who was watching them, started 

 for it and in a short time came back with a 

 large goose he had carried fully J /z mile. 

 The only things that gave him the least in- 

 convenience were shallow water and quick- 

 sand. 



We stopped shooting when we had all the 

 geese we needed. I have used all kinds of 

 retrievers and for faithful work, pluck, and 

 strength I heartily commend the cocker, 

 the best swimmer in the world. He is also 

 excellent on grouse and woodcock. 



A UNIVERSAL GENIUS. 



He's a versatile chap, is the Yankee lad, 



No matter from whence he may hail — 

 From the States where the Gulf waters rip- 

 ple so glad, 



Or the North, with its snow and its hail. 

 He is hot for the fray as he starts away 



To the echoing sound of the drums, 

 But he's cool enough and he wins the day 



When the moment of combat comes. 



Oh, the Yankee lad can direct a plough, 



Or any machine you select; 

 He's full of new " notions," and knows just 

 how 



To make calculations correct. 

 For a bit of a trade alert is he, 



And his books always balance aright; 

 And, incidentally, you'll agree 



He's a mighty good hand in a fight. 

 474 — Washington Star. 



