365. No dog can be worth a large sum, or should be considered perfectly made, that cannot be hunted in perfect silence,—that is not good at finding dead or wounded birds, and that is not sure to point them when found. If in his transverse range he keep his head to windward it is a good sign, for it evinces his consciousness that it is in the breeze he should seek for an intimation of the vicinity of game. As to the excellence of his nose, this can only be fully ascertained by experience, and by comparing him in the field with other dogs; but some opinion may be formed by observing whether on first winding game he confidently walks up to his point with a high head, or is shuffling in an undecided manner to the right and left (perhaps even pottering with his nose near the ground), before he can satisfy himself respecting the exact locality of the birds. There are favourable days when any dog can wind game, when finding many birds will far more depend upon “range” than nose. The surest way to test the olfactory powers of different dogs is to take them out directly after mid-day in sultry weather, or when a north-easterly wind has been blowing for some days. If their condition, &c. is then alike, you may be certain that the dog who winds most birds has the finest (or most cautious?) nose. On such a day chance will but little assist him.
SETTER’S GOOD NOSE.
366. On an extremely bad scenting day in October, 1838, a cold dry wind blowing from the east, the Hon. F—— C——, Baron A. and Sir F. H——, then partridge-shooting at C——n, in Staffordshire, saw a liver-coloured pointer take every point from three setters of some celebrity belonging to a very sporting baronet. The setters did not make a single “set” throughout the day, but ran into the birds as if they had been larks. The pointer’s nose was, however, so good that the party, notwithstanding the badness of the scent, bagged thirty-five brace.
367. The keeper who brought out the setters was obliged to own, that he could not otherwise account for the apparent singularity of their behaviour, than by admitting the superiority of the pointer’s nose; yet, judging from the [engraving], he did not carry his head well.
368. A stiffish price had been given for the dog, but I need hardly say that it was not considered unreasonable, after the exhibition of scenting-powers so unusual, fairly tested in the field with competitors of established character.
369. In this instance it was a pointer that evinced singular tenderness of nose; but in the following, a setter bore off the palm in a contest with good pointers. Mr. Q——r, of F——w (county of Suffolk), who is an enthusiast about shooting, three years ago took out his favourite dog, a heavy, large-limbed, liver-coloured setter, on a cold, raw, bad scenting day, together with a brace of pointers of high character belonging to another Suffolk sportsman, Mr. W——s. The latter had expressed rather a contemptuous opinion of the setter, whose appearance was undeniably not very prepossessing; but to the gentleman’s astonishment, and perhaps somewhat to his mortification, the lumbering dog found plenty of birds, though there was so little scent that the vaunted pointers were nearly useless. I was told, that at that moment Mr. Q——r would not have taken two hundred guineas for the animal.
370. What a pity it is that more pains are not taken to link in matrimonial chains dogs of the rare excellence of nose described in the preceding paragraph, and in [182], [204], and [289], instead of being satisfied with marked superiority in one parent only! In a setter or pointer sensitiveness of nose is the most valuable natural quality sought for;—correctness of range the most valuable artificial quality.
FASHIONABLE (ENGLISH) SETTER, AND OLD-FASHIONED POINTER.
“He did not carry his head well.”—Par. [367].