UPLAND SHOOTING. 
183 
birds,—by your setter getting into the way of dashing into the 
midst of scattered bevies, and flushing them all, one by one, 
while you are standing with your unloadfed gun in your hand, 
roaring down-charge, and uttering, if you are a little quick¬ 
tempered, all sorts of imprecations against your poor dog, 
which, if at all just, you would fulminate against yourself. No¬ 
thing is more annoying to me, than to be joined by some coun¬ 
try gunner in the field, who, utterly unconscious of wrong, per¬ 
sists in doing things which make your own hair stand on end. 
and compels you to flog the unhappy quadrupeds for the faults 
of the stupid biped. 
While speaking on this subject, I will quote an observation 
which I met with the other day, in a capital book, by a right 
good sportsman, entitled—the book, not the man—“ The Moor 
and the Loch.” The truth and force of the remark struck me 
the moment I read it; and, although it is not new to the accom 
plished sportsman, or old dog-breaker, I think I have never seen 
it in print before ; and I am sure I have seen the fault it repre¬ 
hends committed a hundred times. 
The writer is speaking of “ the inveterate habit, contracted 
through bad breaking, of running in when the bird drops. This 
trick is acquired from the breaker’s carelessness, in not always 
making the dog fall down when birds rise, a rule which should 
never be neglected, on any pretence.” Mr. Colquhoun here 
means, that the dog should be taught to charge, on the bird ris¬ 
ing, whether shot at, or not; and unquestionably he is right in 
the matter. “ The steadiness of a dog ,” he proceeds, “ whether 
old or young , depends entirely upon its being rigidly observed. I 
have seen dogs most unmercifully flogged, and yet bolt with the 
same eagerness every shot. It is easy to see the reason ; the 
dog was followed by the keeper endeavoring to make him 
« down’; there was thus a race between them, which should first 
reach the fallen bird. The plan to adopt with a dog of this de¬ 
scription, is when the Grouse,” or other game, “ drops, and the 
dog rushes forward, never to stir,—coolly allow him to tear 
away at the game until you have loaded ; by which time he 
