THE ENGLISH POINTER. 
705 
field, provided the game is neither sprung nor started at 
which he himself originally pointed. Whenever a pointer is 
conscious of his own powers and education, he makes it his 
whole business to serve and amuse his master. At the same 
time he will also perform his work to others to whom he 
may be lent, and is sensible of the duty required of him the 
moment he enters the field. 
Pointers are seldom used for any other kind of shooting 
than that of grouse, partridge, and snipe. 
We are informed of Mr. Daniel, that he possessed a pointer 
which would always go round close to the hedges of a field 
before he would quarter his ground ; the dog being sensible 
that he most frequently found his game in the course of this 
circuit, and therefore very naturally took the middle road to 
discover it. 
The following interesting fact was communicated to me 
by an eye-witness. The circumstance happened in Forfar¬ 
shire, and is a strong proof of the reasoning powers of & 
dog. “ Two or three weeks ago, an acquaintance and I were 
out shooting in this neighbourhood, when we saw the most 
beautiful thing we ever witnessed in the way of a point: 
one of our pointers, a bitch, was going over a stone dyke, 
about four feet high, and just as she made the leap, got the 
scent of some birds on the other side of the wall. She hung 
by her fore-legs until we came up. It appeared at the dis¬ 
tance we were from her, as if her fore-legs had got fastened 
amongst the stones in the wall, and that she could not extri¬ 
cate herself. You may judge of our delight when coming 
up, to find that it was her caution, for fear of flushing the 
birds, that prevented her from taking the leap. It is im¬ 
possible adequately to convey to you in writing the beauty 
of this point!” 
Was this mere instinct, or was it reason. 
