STEADYING TO SHOT 
93 
birds.” The tone of my voice would indi¬ 
cate so surely my disappointment that she 
was invariably thereafter mighty careful not 
to give me cause for sorrow any more 
than she could possibly help. And it didn’t 
take long for her to ignore rabbits almost 
entirely. Of course Byrd by this time had 
reached the age when the chasing of rabbits 
was no longer to be looked upon lightly. 
Right here, in connection with rabbits, let me 
urge the novice not to be unduly worried at 
the interest your dog is bound to show in 
rabbits. The hunting dog is fundamentally 
as fond of fur as of feathers. Let your pup¬ 
pies chase rabbits to their hearts’ content. 
The development of the hunting instinct is 
the big main idea—not the ability to distin¬ 
guish one kind of game from another. That 
can come later. Keenness is what you want 
above all else in a youngster, so don’t by any 
means dull his so-much-desired wire edge by 
restraining his natural eagerness to chase 
fur. Instead, you’d better be glad he’s so 
interested. 
While on the subject of steadying to shot 
and wing, I will mention a scheme that I 
