DOGS 481 
that the dogs of pure blood are far superior. In the 
matter of beauty the dropper has no standing. 
In any event, it is admitted that after the first cross 
the dropper deteriorates physically and as a worker. 
In any generation he does not breed true to any fixed 
type. Perhaps he may have all the externals of the 
setter or of the pointer, or he may show modified char- 
acteristics of both. For instance, a pointer coat may 
be accompanied by a rudimentary flag on the tail, or 
the latter may have a bushiness foreign to true pointer 
type. This cross is never attempted or approved by 
careful breeders, and is repugnant to all true sportsmen. 
As a rule, the dropper is the result of ignorance in 
breeding matters, or of cheap pot-hunting proclivi- 
ties, or he is a makeshift of indigence. 
The origin of the setter is unknown. As a matter 
of conjecture, it is held by certain writers that his 
origin is in a spaniel ancestry. There is much of 
plausibility in the arguments advanced to sustain the 
assumption. In many respects, some breeds of spaniels 
and setters bear a striking physical resemblance. They 
possess many instincts in common, though differing in 
some important particulars as to methods of pursuit. 
Some spaniels at times display rudimentary attempts 
to point, while on the other hand there are many set- 
ters which display a natural inclination to flush birds 
without pointing them at all, or with but a mere pre- 
tense of pointing them. Nevertheless, the evidence ad- 
duced in support of a spaniel origin is too fragmentary 
and too speculative to furnish actual proof; and, more- 
