486 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
He was also much more steady than the improved va- 
riety, but then he has not the same speed to recom- 
mend him. . . . He has an elegant figure, and is of a 
very pleasing diversity of color; added to this, his 
skin is covered with a coat of beautifully curled hair, 
very rilious on the lower margin of the tail, being alto- 
gether an extremely handsome dog, and quite unri- 
valed by any of the canine species.” 
These views, in a way, are a summation of the evi- 
dence bearing on the setter’s origin. For him whose 
fancy or prejudgments favor a spaniel origin there is 
much evidence to humor them. In like manner, there 
is evidence to console him who prefers a spaniel and 
pointer origin. For him who can impartially consider 
the pertinent facts, there also is ample evidence that 
we do not know the origin of the setter. It is lost in 
the mists of the ages. What are considered as finalities, 
at best are merely shrewd speculations concerning it. 
While recognizing that the act of pointing, in a 
more or less rudimentary form, is exhibited by span- 
iels and several other breeds of dogs, and, indeed, by 
cur dogs, under certain circumstances, it is never like 
the intensity and efficiency of that displayed by setters 
and pointers. Asa matter of speculation, it is much 
more plausible that the spaniel was crossed on the old 
Spanish pointer, which was introduced into England 
centuries ago, and that the cross-bred product might 
have been the setter. Here was the pointing instinct 
ready to hand to breed into the spaniel, an exceedingly 
simple matter as compared to the far-fetched theory 
