WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 209 
of his necessary qualifications. For this work no 
breed has the slightest value unless the individuals 
possess rare sagacity and almost human judgment. 
Some of the most valuable English dogs have been 
from an accidental cross ; and a pure cur with a heavy 
coat is often as good as any other. 
There is in England a strain of dogs known as 
retrievers; they are mostly used in connexion with 
upland shooting, as English pointers and setters are 
not broken to fetch; but the favorite animals for 
wild-fowl shooting, which have made their name 
notorious in connexion with this specialty, have 
generally come from parents neither of which pos- 
sesses the true retriever blood. 
In this country the best breed will have some of 
the Newfoundland strain; the animal must be 
clothed with a dense coat of thick hair to endure 
the severe exposure to which ‘he is subjected, and 
must be endowed with a natural aptitude and pas- 
sion for swimming. The usual color is dark, which, 
in the writer’s judgment, is a great mistake; and the 
only really distinct breed of retrievers is known as 
that of Baltimore. 
In the Southern States the dog, as an assistant in 
wild-fowl shooting, has always been in far greater 
repute than at the North; although the inland lakes 
of the latter, the extensive marshes closely grown 
up with tall zimosas, matted wild oats, and thick 
weeds, make his services far more desirable. At 
the South alone has any intelligent attention been 
given to raising a superior strain of retrievers; and 
