THE FIRST-RATE QUAIL DOG 
was as much like the dear old Spot of years 
gone by as he could well be; only he was a 
little more generously ticked and the liver 
spots were larger. Father began training 
the little fellow, and soon had him so he 
would stand his feed, fetch a ball or a glove, 
charge, and do several other things at com- 
mand. And when the little rascal was six 
months old he would stand birds like an old- 
timer. When the season opened I was 
much surprised to see the puppy find as 
many birds as a three-year-old and thor- 
oughly broken setter that I had procured 
especially for the hunting season. And he 
was much easier to handle than the older 
dog: when the birds were flushed he would 
never move until told to, and the more he 
hunted the better he performed, and the 
more he liked it. 
The season closed about the middle of 
December, and by the time another season 
drew near Dewey was a full-grown dog and 
would weigh fifty pounds in good hunting 
trim. And he was gifted with some power 
or knowledge of finding birds that I have 
never seen another dog have. Frequently 
when hunting in company with several good 

he answered that 
259 
dogs, I saw him toss his big nose up in the 
wind and go straight to the birds as if he had 
seen them, and meanwhile the other dogs 
were covering the entire field at high speed. 
Often toward the middle of the day he 
showed his knowledge of the habits of the 
birds by hunting around brier patches or 
along the edge of the field next to the woods, 
and if the birds had sneaked out of the 
field he would take up their trail and find 
them in some brush-heap or cozy corner 
where they had gone to hide. 
When the covey has been flushed is the 
time a dog has the best chance to show his 
ability. I have often seen reputed cracker- 
jack hunters go tearing off through the 
brush so far ahead of their masters that the 
only knowledge of the scattered birds being 
now and then found that came to us was 
from the occasional whir of wings and the 
glimpse of a bird rising some seventy or 
eighty yards away. But not so Dewey. 
When he gets into a scattered covey, in the 
woods, he is as careful as if he were hunting 
ruffed grouse. Often he stands his birds at 
a considerable distance, under these cir- 
cumstances, and then he will move up 
he was only a second- or third-class dog 
