BIRDS AND ALL NATURE. 



ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY. 



Vol. VI. 



SEPTEMBER, 1899. 



No. 2 



THE POINTER. 



[Cants familiaris — Sagax avicularius.'] 



THERE is a wide difference of 

 opinion among naturalists as to 

 the stock from which our dogs 

 of the present day came. Hal- 

 lock says that some have it the wolf, 

 others the jackal or fox, while not a 

 few claim that the wild dog of India is 

 the source from which sprang all the 

 varieties. He maintains, however, that 

 it cannot be declared with any degree 

 of certainty what the parent stock was. 

 Certain it is that to no one animal can 

 the paternity of these useful races be 

 credited, as they are so widely different 

 in form, color, and characteristics, and 

 man could never have developed and 

 brought together such vast differences, 

 opposite natures and shapes, as can be 

 seen in domestic dogs, unless the origi- 

 nal species were in possession of the 

 rudiments. Neither could food, cli- 

 mate, nor any contrivance whatever so 

 completely alter the nature, decrease 

 the powers of scent, render the coat 

 short, long, or curly, lengthen or 

 shorten the limbs, unless separate types 

 had furnished the material. 



Ancient bas-relief and monumental 

 delineations picture the dog as distinct 

 in its characteristics thousands of years 

 ago as at the present day, and fossil re- 

 mains ha\'e been repeatedly discovered 

 so little resembling either the wolf, 

 jackal, or fox, and so different in type, 

 as to be classified with the spaniel, ter- 

 rier, hound, bulldog, pointer, and pug; 

 and as we know these to be made dogs, 

 or in other words hybrids, the species 

 must have been fully as numerous as at 

 the present time. 



There are numerous species of wild 

 dogs differing from one another almost 

 as much as our own domestic animals 

 of to-day. Granting that the spaniel, 

 greyhound, and terrier sprang origi- 



nally from the wolf, as some argue, 

 why not point out first why the male 

 dogs are so dissimilar? And again, 

 why are the wolves of different coun- 

 tries unlike, and which species of wolf 

 is the true and only one? Without 

 wishing to conflict with the opinions of 

 those so much more learned on the 

 subject than ourselves, we would ask, 

 would it not be much more reasonable 

 to suppose, without positive proof, that 

 the origin of the domestic dog can be 

 referred to numerous aboriginal species, 

 crossing with the wild varieties — as we 

 know our dogs will frequently do, in- 

 cluding the wolf, jackal, and the fox, if 

 we like, climate assisting, and man aid- 

 ing by judicious intermixing and breed- 

 ing — until the present high standard of 

 this useful animal has been reached? 



It is noticeable that we have in 

 America far more well-bred setters tham 

 pointers, and greater attention seems 

 to have been paid in the last few years 

 in procuring the former blood than the 

 latter. This arises from the fact that 

 the setter is the greater favorite of the 

 two, and justly the choice of the sports- 

 man when he desires a dog that will 

 unflinchingly stand the rough-and-tum- 

 ble nature of our shooting. Of the two, 

 the point of the shorter-haired animal is 

 far the more marked when on game, 

 and the training once received by him 

 is always retained, and on each return- 

 ing season he enters the field to be de- 

 pended upon, while the setter oftener.' 

 has to be partially rebroken each year;: 

 and if not owned by a sportsman who 

 shoots continually, becomes headstrong 

 and unreliable. 



"For the person whose business will 

 not allow him to take his gun in hand 

 but two or three times in the autumn," 

 says an authority, "we advise by alL 



