GUN-SHYNESS 
33 
Back by Ray’s barn were some pigeons 
flying overhead and I asked him if he 
wouldn’t go and get his shotgun. This, then, 
was to be the first real test of gun-shyness. 
It should have been made on quail—but tame 
pigeons are not yet classed as “song birds” 
and so we chose these. Just as one passed 
directly over Ray’s head he pulled the trig¬ 
ger—and, before Byrd had even a chance to 
show fear, the pigeon came tumbling to the 
ground almost at her feet. She promptly 
grabbed it, and this gave us a chance to give 
her the first lesson in retrieving. I tried to 
get her to “Fetch” just by talking to her, but 
she either did not comprehend or else simply 
would not do it. 
Ray then started to take the pigeon from 
her—and that excited her interest. We kept 
up this game, Byrd trying to keep it from 
him and Ray trying to get it from her. 
Every time she let go of it he would start for 
it and then she raced for it again. Finally 
she tired of this and dropped the pigeon far 
to one side. When Ray, however, went to 
get it, and she noticed what he was going to 
do, she quickly ran and grabbed it up and 
