264 
FOREST » AND STREAM, 
[Sept. 29, igbo. 
The Dream of a Fiddler. 
Nageeb Fiani, whom the Syrians of Washington street 
icall "the greatest violin player in all the world,'' has gone 
awav with a sideshow to play for dancers, ihe night 
before he left the quarter he dreamed a strange dream; 
in the morning he told it to Khabi Khayat, who used to 
be an editor, and ^hayat told it to many people; now 
everybody thinks that the dream proves Nageeb Fiani to 
be the "very greatest player in all the world." Khayat 
iaid to them : "Who but a great player could dream such 
Fiani did not want to go away with the sideshow ; he is 
tired of the roving life, and would much rather he a 
:guard on an elevated train. "What you theenk? ' he said. 
'-Can I get job on elevator train ? Sure, I spick Eenglish ! 
I am spick good enough, anyway." So Fiam would rather 
stay at home; that is why, no doubt, he dreamed the 
strange dream. . 
' The player thought he was in a lonely waste place, m 
^he hot twilight; and the light faded fast. He had his 
■violin with him, and sat down to play; but he had no 
heart for playing, it was so very lonely. Suddenly a great 
lion leaped out of the far-off darkness, and came bounding 
at him, its mouth wide open, its roars fearful to hear. 
Then Fiani was near paralyzed with fear, but, by a great 
effort, he managed to get the violin to his chm, and the 
bow on the strings ; then he began to play, and played as 
he had never played before; and so enravishing was the 
music that he forgot all about the lion and thought only 
of the sweet strains. 
When Fiani looked up again the Iton was standing near 
him, the light of rage gone out of his eyes. So, as Fiani 
played, the lion crept closer and put its head on the 
player's knee, and there went to sleep. 
Then, out of the darkness, there came, also, a woman, 
walking as though under the spell of the sweet music: 
and she was young and very fair. When she saw the 
lion she cried out, and turned to run away; but Fiani 
cried: "Oh, beautiful young lady, do not go away! Do 
not go, but come. The fierce lion will not hurt you so 
long as I play." ., 
Then the young lady came confidently and sat by Fiani s 
side; and the lion awoke, and when it saw her beauty it 
changed its place to her side, and again fell asleep. So 
Fiani plaved .sweetest music for many hours; and it was 
not lonely there at all. But by and by the young lady rose 
to go ; and she sped quickly into the darkness out of which 
she had come. Thrice he begged her to return ; and at 
the third beseeching she was lost to sight, and the lion 
was with her. Then Fiani put his hand to his forehead 
in lamentation. The violin dropped to the hard ground, 
and then it was shivered into one million pieces; and tlie 
noise of its breaking awoke the dreamer. 
This dream Khahi Khayat translated for Fiani to a 
reporter for the Evening Post, and Fiani asked that it be 
printed in the newspaper, because it was too fine to be 
known only to one man. — New_ York Evening Post, 
Imttel 
Fbctttfcs. 
FIELD TRIAI.S. 
Oct 30.— Senecaville, O.— Monongahela Valley Game and Fish 
Protective Association's sixth annual field trials. A. C. Peterson, 
Sec'y, 'Homestead, Pa. 
Nov. 7,— Hampton, Conn.— Connecticut Field Trials Club's field 
trials. J. E. Bassett, Sec'y, Box 603, New Haven, Conn. 
Nov. 7-8.— Lake View, Mich.— Third annual field trials of the 
Michigan Field Trials Association. E. Rice. Sec'y, Grand Rapids, 
Mich. . 
Nov. 12.— Bicknell, Ind.— Third annual field trials of the In- 
dependent Field Trials Club. P. T. Madison, Sec'y, Indianapolis, 
Ind. 
Nov. 13.— Chatham, Ont.— Twelfth annual field trials of the In- 
ternational Field Trials Club. W. B. Wells, Hon. Sec'y. 
Nov. 16.— Newton, N. C— Eastern Field Trials Club's twenty- 
second annual field trials— Members' Stake. Nov. 19, Derby. 
Simon C. Bradley, Sec'y, Greenfield Hill_, Conn. 
No. 20. , .—Illinois Field Trials Association's second 
annual field trials. O. W. Ferguson, Sec'y, Mattoon, 111. 
Nov. 20. — Ruthven, Ontario, Can. — Second annual field trials of 
the North American Field Trials Club. F. E. Marcon, Jr., Sec'y, 
Windsor, Ontario, Can. 
Nov. 20. , Pa.— Central Beagle Club's annual field trials. A. 
C. Peterson, Sec'y, Homestead, Pa. 
Nov. 22.— Glasgow, Ky.— Kentucky Field Trials Gub's annual 
field trials. Barret Gibson, Sec'y, Louisville, Ky. 
Nov. 27. — Paris, Mo. — Fourth annual field trials of the Missouri 
Field Trials Association. L. S. Eddins, Sec'y, Sedalia, Mo. 
Nov. 30.— Newton, N. C— Continental Field Trials Club's sixth 
annual field trials — Members' Stake. Dec. 3. Derby. Theo. 
Sturges, Sec'y, Greenfield Hill. Conn. 
Training the Hunting Dog 
Foi* the Field and Field Triak 
»"■- ■ 
(Continued frotn page 231.) 
III. — Nattiral Qualities and Gharactcifistics, 
The natural instincts of the dog and his manner of 
seeking prey are by the sportsman designated as natural 
qualities. The term is used more in connection with 
field trial competition, to distinguish between what is 
natural and what is educational. 
Like other members of the carnivorous familj- to which 
he belongs, the dog is a meat eater. In securing a food 
supply, he naturally takes to the pursuit of other ani- 
mals which are his prey. His teeth are large, strong and 
sharp, are set in correspondingly heavy, muscular jaws, 
and his digestive organs also denote that he belongs to 
carnivora. He possesses extraordinary fleetness of foot, 
bodily activitj^ courage, great powers of endurance, keen 
and discriminating functional powers of nose and a high 
degree of intelligence in his sphere of life, all of which 
are qualities essential to his existence in a wild state, 
and in domestication highly prized by man. 
Without a high degree of intelligence, the possession 
of his destructive bodily powers would be of little value 
to him. All would be worthless it he were brainless. 
Intelligence and knowledge are essential to him both 
in respect to attack and defense. However, his every 
act denotes that he has the intelligence and the capacity 
to acquire such knowledge as he needs. He plans craftily, 
executes according to his plans, or changes them tg con- 
form to varying circumstances. His acts are marked by 
great courage and dash when in pursuit and attack, and 
by great prudence and activity when he fiees from dan- 
ger. He possesses a certain sagacity in recognizing a 
superior force and in refraining from the attack when 
the disadvantages are too great for probable success. 
Singly, he does not hesitate to attack smaller animals 
than himself; larger animals he prefers to attack with 
the aid of his fellows— that is to say, as a pack. A briet 
experience suffices to teach him which parts are the 
most vital of the animals he pursues as prey, and he 
inflicts injury on them accordingly. Different dogs em- 
ploy different methods of attack, according to their 
powers; for instance, a large dog, battling with a wood- 
chuck or other small animal, rushes in, catches it in 
the middle of the back, crushes in its spine and ribs, par- 
alyzing and killing it quickly. Not possessing the power 
to kill in such summary manner, the small dog seizes by 
the throat, shakes the woodchuck till it is dazed and 
unconscious, and holds on till he slowly kills it. If he 
is not strong enough to shake it, he holds fast by the 
throat, thereby insuring the least possible injury to him- 
self while inflicting the greatest possible injury to his 
prey, as this hold simultaneously attacks the jugular, the 
windpipe, many important nerves, etc. The fact that 
dogs employ so many different methods of attack is alone 
sufiicient to prove that they possess reasoning powers. 
Dogs, fighting in packs, perform at their best in secur- 
ing their prey. Two dogs, fightnig conjointly, making 
common cause against an animal, are relatively far more 
destructive than they are fighting singly, for while one 
engages the enemy in front the other has a compara- 
tively unhindered opportunity to bite and maim the rear. 
Several dogs in a pack therefore are exceedingly for- 
midable when battling against other animals. They time 
and direct their efforts most intelligently in support of 
each other and in defense of each other. In the con- 
certed action of all in the attack on a large animal, each 
may perform quite a distinct part, yet all their efforts are 
directed to the attainment of the same end. Some may 
engage the animal in a sham attack in front while others, 
behind, hamstring it, or tear its flanks. Turn as it may, 
the attack is incessantly maintained, and every vulnerable 
point is seized and injured till the animal weakens. At 
the proper juncture the pack closes in on it and then 
the end soon comes. 
In their methods of pursuing and capturing their prey 
all dogs possess many traits in common. Some, how- 
ever, have special qualities for one kind of pursuit, some 
for other kinds, and these peculiarly fit them for the 
service of man when he attempts pursuit himself. The 
foxhound has the speed, stamina and nose so essential 
in the most successful pursuit of deer and foxes. Man 
is deficient in these qualities, so he appropriates the 
efforts of the dog to his own use. The greyhound has 
the dashing speed and determination which enable him 
to catch the swiftest hares or wolves, etc., in a short 
pursuit. 
Setters and pointers are particularly prized by man 
for their natural impulse to hunt game birds, and the 
natural methods they employ in their efforts to capture, 
for it so happens that the methods employed by the dog 
for himself are equally useful to man when employed in 
his service. As setters and pointers are naturally of an 
amiable and deferential nature, diverting their efforts to 
the purposes of the gun is not a task of great difficulty. 
The contention made herein that pointing is implanted 
in the dog by nature for his own benefit, and that it is 
but one detail of many others in the exercise of his in- 
stinctive eft'orts to obtain a food supply, is opposed to 
some exceedingly venerable teachings on this subject. 
That the reader may have a better understanding of the 
ancient speculation concerning the origin of the act of 
pointing, and at the same time the exalted importance 
of man. as determined by himself, the following excerpt 
is quoted Irom Stonehenge, whom the public, in his day 
and for some years afterward, accepted as, an authority on 
this point: 
In his work, "The Dogs of the British Islands" (edi- 
tion of 1867), he writes: "As some difference of opin- 
ion appears to exist with regard to setters, we have de- 
termined thoroughly to satisfy ourselves as to their 
origin and best form, and we have called all the best 
authorities to our assistance. We propose to place the 
result of our labors before the public, and to add our 
own conclusions. 
"There is no doubt that the sport of hawking was 
known and practiced by the ancient Britons, and that 
the Roman was totally ignorant of the science; but the 
invader at once came to the conclusion that the system 
might be improved and introduced the land spaniel, if 
not the water dog also, into this country. 
"These dogs roused the game, and this was all that 
the hawker required of them in those early days; but in 
after years, as we shall see, dogs were required to point, 
or, in the language, of the quaint old writer, 'Sodainely 
stop and fall down upon their bellies,' and having so 
done, when within 2 or 3 yards, 'then shall your setter 
stick and by no persuasion go further till yourself come 
in and use your pleasure.' 
"At first, then, without doubt, the spaniel was merely 
used as a springer for the hawk, which was subsequently 
neglected for the net; and the propensity of the dog to 
pause before making his dash at game was cultivated 
and cherished, by breeding and selection, until at last, 
gratified observing the action of the net, he yielded 
his natu'-al impulse of springing at all and set or lay 
down to permit the net to be drawn over him. After 
this the hawker trained his spaniel to set; then he cast 
off his hawks, which ascended in circles, and 'waited on' 
until his master roused the quarry from its concealment, 
when she pounced upon it like a pistol shot. 
_ "When used either with hawks or for the net .(espe- 
cially in the latter case), a far heavier dog answered the 
purpose than what we call a 'high-ranging setter.' The 
net enveloped a whole covey in its meshes and few 
manors would allow of many coveys being taken in a 
day; whilst the disentangling the birds and securing them 
allowed time for the heavy dog to :re5t aind regain his 
wind." 
As further bearing on this point, he refers to it again 
in the same work, in the chapter on the Sussex spanial, 
as follows: "About the year 1555 a Duke of Northum- 
berland traiiied one 'to Isir^g fgr the net,' and SQon 
afterward the setter was produced, either by selection or 
by crossing the Talbot hound and spaniel." 
From the implication iti the foregoing — for the origin 
of the setter as well as the act of pointing are therein 
only matter of implication — it was but a short step for 
later and more superficial writers to assert that the setter 
had a spaniel origin, and that the act of pointing had its 
source in the training of a few dogs to lie down while a 
net was spread over them and the covey which they had 
found. Could anything be more inconsequential in the 
explanation of a simple subject than that in 1555 an un- 
known Duke trained a Sussex spaniel "to set birds for 
the net and soon afterward the setter was produced, 
either by selection or by crossing the Talbot hound and 
the spaniel"? As to the origin of the setter, there is btit 
one sensible conclusion — that is to say, we do not know 
what it is. Up to the time of Col. Hutchinson there 
were few authors on canine subjects who wrote from their 
own practical experience, and fewer still who had proper 
discriminating powers of mind. They accepted all the 
absurdities, conjectures and vagaries of the first writers 
as being good matter of fact, and did not hesitate to 
repeat them as being true. By the simple process of dint 
of repetition, it has come to be a general belief that the 
pointing instinct originated as told in the net-and-dog 
story, or as implied by it, for it docs not assert it. In fact, 
it admits the existence of the instinct, as shown by the 
remark "and the propensity of the dog to pause before 
making his dash at game was cultivated and cherished, 
by breeding and selection, until, at last, gratified by ob- 
serving the action of the net, he yielded his natural im- 
pulse of springing at all," etc. That is precisely the case 
to-day, if we substitute the gun for the net and inter- 
pret the loosely written description for the facts. The 
dog of to-day has naturally the pause before making his 
dash to capture. He only forbears springing as a con- 
sequence of much training, and after he observes the 
success of the gun on the one hand, and being firmly 
denied the pleasure of springing on the other hand, we 
come to the ancient and modern belief wherein he is "at 
last, gratified' by observing the action of the net," etc. 
The ancient writers were, moreover, handicapped by 
overweening belief in the sublimity of man, and the Spe- 
cial creation of all the lower animals for his benefit. 
Considering setters and pointers from the same un- 
prejudiced standpoint from which we would consider 
tigers, wild dogs, cats and rats, etc., we observe that 
they possess the hunting instinct and the knowledge of 
the best manner of hunting, to the end that they may 
obtain a food supply. In a wild state their existence 
depends on their ability to pursue and capture. The 
hunting instinct and the manner of its exercise were no 
more implanted in the nature of pointers and setters to 
please or profit a man with a gun than was the like 
instinct, etc., of their wild congeners, the wolves, din- 
goes, etc., implanted for the same purpose. 
Setters and pointers, though their names might seem 
to indicate otherwise, display no essential differences in 
their methods of pursuit and capture, nor in their choice 
of prey. They delight in hunting rabbits, squirrels and 
other small animals, and prefer them to game birds as 
an object of pursuit. It is not at all a difiiicult matter to 
break a dog from hunting birds, and not infrequently the 
amateur accomplishes this result unintentionally and un- 
expectedly by punishment in his mistaken attempts to 
train, the result being an unfortunate condition called 
"blinking." _ _ _ - 
Not infrequently it is a task of extreme difficulty to 
break the dog from his passionate fondness for hunting 
rabbits. He for a time will disobey commands, ignore 
punishment and strike out independently to gratify his 
fondness for chasing them. On their trail he gives 
tongue merrily and flies along at his topmost speed, 
through punishing brier or muddy swamp, never feeling 
fatigue while the' ardor of the chase is upon him. He 
uses no special craft in pursuing a rabbit, and if he tried 
he could not well be noisier. Still there is no need then 
of craft and silence. Both pursuer and pursued are on 
their feet on the earth's surface. The former boldly 
utters his cry of pursuit and deadly purpose, striking ter- 
ror into his prey; the latter is silent and uses his best 
powers to escape. 
But in the pursuit of birds the dog changes this method 
radically, for, befitting as is the noisy method for hunting 
the rabbit, it is wholl}' out of place for hunting birds. 
The latter have wings, and the dog soon learns that, if 
they are alarmed, they use therh, and that, when once 
awing, they are safe. He consequently must so direct 
his efforts that the birds will not be alarmed, and. indeed, 
so that they will not even suspect his presence if he is 
to compass his purpose. Therefore the merry cry of pur- 
suit and the reckless dashing through brush and open, so 
useful in the pursuit of the rabbit, no longer have place. 
The setter and pointer, when seeking birds, range abou*" 
till they ' strike the trail ; then they follow it carefully, 
silently and alertly. As the setter nears the birds and the 
scent gets warmer, he feathers; his eyes glisten; his jaws 
open tremulously; he crouches as he draws nearer, 
and mayhap he may drop to the ground for a 
moment; his nerves and muscles become tenser 
in anticipation of the approaching spring into the con- 
cealment of the birds and the resultant bloody ending. 
The pointer exhibits the same phenomena, except the 
feathering. 
The nose of the pointer or setter is his highest organ 
of sense. It has wonderful functional powers, and by ex- 
perience he acquires equally wonderful powers ot dis- 
crimination in its use. 
He follows the trail accurately by his powers of scent- 
ing. When he has drawn near to the birds he has a 
new problem to solve; he must accurately determine the 
whereabouts of the birds in their concealment. If he 
cannot do so, his skill and silence in roading them avail 
nothing. The birds have probably discovered that an 
enemy is about and have sought the most convenient 
cover for safety. _ When near to them he sets, stands or 
points, terms which denote the same act; he is in a posi- 
tion to spring to the extent of his capabilities; his eyes 
are set but are nevertheless keenly alert. If he is not 
quite sure of his distance and the location of the birds, 
he moves, perhaps taking a better advantage of the 
wind and ground, and points again. Satisfied at length 
that he has made his calculations correctly, he springs 
irpj^i his point with wonderful agility and generally with 
