the changes that come over the dreams of the amateur sportsman when he fails to put up his expected 
birds. He knows where they arc, for he marked them all down in the meadow of short-grass, within a 
few yards of a stump or tree. Then, it is such a commentary on his dogs, for he knows they are all right 
— never better, truer noses; still they go, over and over, round and round, without coming to a point. — 
There, that dog has flushed a bird. — Moav he is assured they are all within twenty feet of that place ; 
and he renews his search, and keeps his dogs going over and over the same ground, until both dogs and 
gunner disgusted, quit the place. How they got away, and where they all went to, and why that single 
bird remained where the covey went down, and why the dogs did not point that bird ; all pass through 
the mind of the hunter as he leisurely marches on in search of other and better luck. He perhaps 
meets his experienced friend, to whom he relates his disappointment, and who, in turn, proposes after a 
given time to return to the meadow and the stump or tree. They do so, and every dog comes to a 
point. Down comes three birds. The dogs move cautiously, in a moment again stand. This is repeated 
until the last bird has gone the gantlet. Experience of this kind is not a novelty, but occurs frequently. A 
few years since I was out with a friend, and we flushed a very large covey, and marked them down ac- 
curately on an elevated piece of ground in a woodland pasture. The grass was short, and there was not 
even a weed or brier, and but here and there a large tree. We moved forward with three dogs, expect- 
ing to bring on an engagement at once. We made the dogs approach cautiously, giving them warning 
that game was in the immediate vicinity, but they arrived on the identical spot where Ave suav as many 
as thirty birds alight, Avithout making the least demonstration Avhatever that there Avas any thing unusual 
about the place. We lcneAv better, and made them go over and over, crossing and re-crossing, until it 
seemed every foot and even every inch of ground had been most thoroughly examined. We did this until 
tAvo sportsmen and three good dogs guwe up the pursuit. It Avas uoav past noon, and Ave sat doAvn 
on the grass and uncorked our canteens, and opened up the lunch. We Avere eating, talking, and 
laughing, occasionally reAvarding the dogs Avith a cracker, AAdien my friend, by Avay of sport, said, 
“Look at old Tom, he is on a point.” The dog Avas half standing, half cloAvn, Avith his nose 
throAvn under his chest, between his front legs. Sure enough, he Avas on a point, for there Avas the bird, 
with its bright black eyes, only partially concealed by a leaf, almost under the dog’s body. My friend 
placed his hat over it and caught it, Avithout moving from the dinner-table. At that instant another dog 
made a point Avitliin six inches of my feet. I suav the bird at once, and attempted to capture it Avith 
my hand, but it made its escape. This Avas the signal for a general move, and the Avhole covey rose 
from all around and about us. The concert of their actions in the manner of going cloAvn, retaining scent, 
remaining still under the most trying circumstances, and the mode of leaving — all indicated an under- 
standing, an education by command, Iioav to act in times of great danger. 
The ability to evade the perception of the sharpest and most experienced dogs, has been ac- 
counted for in various ways by sportsmen and authors ; some claim that through fear they retain their 
scent by alighting and not moving after touching the ground, and compressing the plumage in a Avav to 
check the emanations. Others deny most emphatically that they possess the poAver to Avithhold the scent, 
and say the manifestations are accounted for by the scent being confined and covered up; while others 
assert knoAvingly that the reason the dogs are unable to find the birds at the spot Avhere they are seen to settle 
is they are not there to flush ; that they have run aAvay, and that after a given time Avill return to the 
place Avhere the sportsman expected, but failed, to find them. I am satisfied, hoAveVer, that ordinary 
observation and a little patience Avill convince any one that these birds do possess the poAver, and do 
frequently exercise it in a Avay that deprives the dog of not only the ability to locate them by scent, 
but also of the entire knoAvledge of their presence ; and that the birds appear to fully understand AAdien 
they are in this relation to the dog. That they do not always “run aAvay and come back again,” I have 
frequently tested to my entire satisfaction. A feAv years since, I flushed a covey of about one dozen 
birds and marked them doivn very correctly in some broom-corn stubble. My dog Avas beyond question, 
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