FIRST DAYS IN THE FIELD 17 
out I accidentally ran over and killed both a 
turkey and a squirrel—and before the train¬ 
ing had progressed very far it started to 
rain so hard that I found myself not at all 
popular as the result of what had been a well- 
intentioned invitation to witness a lesson 
in bird-dog culture. Get this point, how¬ 
ever: the day was not wasted in spite of lack 
of bird work. No day afield is lost when you 
are breaking a bird dog. The thing that is 
accomplished may not be noticeable—but 
some day it will bear fruit quite unexpect¬ 
edly. Byrd was at least given another 
chance to see good old Ned at his sturdy, 
faithful work and it could not help but deep 
down in the soul of her make an impression 
and cause her to begin to take the tiniest 
mite more interest in her work. The diffi¬ 
culty was in getting on game. We had not 
yet had much luck in finding birds. You 
know how it is—when you want them most 
they're the hardest to locate. Still, no small 
part of the pleasure is in the anticipation, 
and I knew that a better day would dawn. 
Several persons have asked me if I don't 
