292 THE RETRIEVER. 
The Irish Setter is very similar to the English animal, but has larger legs in 
proportion to the size of the body, and is distinguished from its Enelish relative 
by a certain Hibernian air that characterises it, and which, although conspicuous enough 
to a practised eye, is not easy of description. 
Taking as our authority the author above quoted, in the history of the pointer, the 
points of the Setter are shortly as follows :—‘ A moderately heavy head, but not so 
much so as in the pointer; the muzzle not so broad nor so square in profile, the lower 
angle being rounded off, but the upper being still nearly a right angle. The eye is 
similar to that of the pointer, but not so soft, beimg more sparkling and full of spirit. 
The ear long, but thin, and covered with soft, silky hair, slightly waved. The neck is 
long, but straighter than that of the pointer, being also lighter and very flexible. The 
back and loins are hardly so strong as those of the pointer, the latter also being rather 
longer; the hips also are more ragged, and the ribs not so round and barrel-hke. The 
tail or ‘flag’ is usually set on a little lower, is furnished with a fan-like brush of long 
hair, and is slightly curled upwards towards the tip, but it should never be carried over 
the back or raised above the level of its root, excepting while standing, and then a slight 
elevation is admired, every hair standing down with a stiff and regular appearance. The 
elbow, when in perfection, is placed so low as to be fully an inch below the brisket, 
making the fore-arm appear very short. The hind-feet and legs are clothed with hair, or 
‘feathered, as it is called, in the same way as the fore-lees, and the amount of this 
beautiful provision is taken into consideration in selecting the Dog for his points.” 
This description applies equally to the English and the Ivish Setters. 
While at work, the Setter has a strange predilection for water, and this faney is 
carried so far in some Dogs that they will not go on with their work unless they can 
wet the whole of their coats once at least in every half-hour. If deprived of this 
luxury they pant and puff with heat and exertion, and are quite useless for the time. 
It seems that the Setter is a less tractable pupil than the pointer, and even when 
taught is apt to forget its instructions and requires a second course of lessons before it 
will behave properly in the field. Owing to the rough coat and hair-defended feet of the 
Setter, it is able to go through more rough work than the pointer, and is therefore used in 
preference to that animal in the north of England and in Scotland,—where the heat is not 
so great as in the more southern countries—where the rough stem of the heather would 
work much woe to a tender-footed Dog, and where the vicissitudes of the climate are so 
rapid and so fierce that they would injure the constitution of any but a most powerfully 
built animal. 
This Dog, as well as the foxhound and harrier, is guided to its game by the odour 
that proceeds from the bird or beast which it is following; but the scent reaches its 
nostrils in a different manner. 
The foxhound, together with the harrier and beagle, follows up the odorous track 
which is left on the earth by the imprint of the hunted animal's feet, or the accidental 
contact of the under-side of its body with the ground. But the pointer, Setter, spaniel, 
and other Dogs that are employed in finding victims for the gun, are attracted at some 
distance by the scent that exhales from the body of its game, and are therefore said to 
hunt by “body-scent,” in contradistinction to the hounds who hunt by “ foot-scent.” 
The direction in which the wind blows is, therefore, a matter of some consequence, and is 
duly taken advantage of by every good sportsman. 
RETRIEVER Dogs, which are so called on account of their value in recovering cr 
“retrieving” game that has fallen out of the reach of the sportsman, or on which he does 
not choose to expend the labour of fetching for himself, are of various kinds, and in 
every case are obtained by a crossing of two breeds. There are two principal breeds of 
Retrievers, the one being obtained by the mixture of a Newfoundland Dog and a setter, 
and the other by a cross between the water spaniel and the terrier. 
The former of these breeds is the most generally known, and is the animal which is 
represented in the engraving. On inspection of this Dog, the characteristics of both 
parents are plainly perceptible in its form. For the larger kinds of game, such as hares 
