RETRIEVERS AND WOODCOCKS.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIE,—With reference to Mr. J. H. Hamilton's letter in the Spectator of February 13th, I think it is very evident that to most dogs the scent of a freshly killed woodcock is positively distasteful. Of the two dogs which I work myself at present, a spaniel and a retriever, I can depend on neither to find a dead or wounded woodcock, although they have good noses, and are very keen about other game. I have not tried to get over this in the case of the spaniel, as he was, when I bought him, too old to acquire new habits; but I hope to make the retriever all right in this respect. At first she would not pick up the woodcock, even when pointed out to her, but by patience and judicious rewarding I have now got her to do so. Even now when she has picked it up she shows plainly that she wants to be relieved of it as quickly as possible. With other game—grouse, pheasant, partridge, hare, or rabbit—she errs in the opposite direction, and is rather loth to give them up. My experience is that most retrievers are useless for wood- cocks unless trained to them when young.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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