52 WOLF-HUNTING. 



have probably some admixture of hound blood in their veins ; 

 their long, pendant ears, high crowns, and the almost universal 

 habit of throwing tongue when in hard pursuit of a hare, would 

 indicate affinity with the hound race ; and if thus descended, their 

 courage in drawing gorse and thick cover is readily explained. 



It may be a natural, and is decidedly a patriotic feeling, to 

 believe that no nation in the world understands the breeding and 

 management of dogs so well as we do. 



Hounds, and their various breed, 

 And no less various use. 



Yet the poor, uneducated peasant of Lower Brittany, the bra- 

 connier who gets his livelihood by the chase, shooting seven days 

 in every week, and shooting partout, breaks a pointer for his own 

 use immeasurably superior in many respects to the highly-trained 

 dogs so often met with in our turnip fields and grouse moors. 

 The former will break fence, it is true, and will foot a hare like 

 a very hound ; but this he has been taught and encouraged to do 

 it is a qualification essential to the bag. On the other hand, 

 he will, as has already been stated, face the thorniest brake, never 

 rake in drawing for his birds, and, above all, will retrieve his 

 wounded game by land or water perfectly. Without these accom- 

 plishments, especially the first and last, he would be valueless to 

 the braconnier in that land. However, suum cuique is doubtless 

 the fair conclusion : certain it is that the thin-skinned, highly-bred, 

 and highly-broken English pointer is found to be utterly useless in 

 Lower Brittany; while probably the coarser-bred dog of that 

 country would be unequal to the quick stubble work and fine 

 style required in this. 



There is a sad disfigurement practised on Brittany pointers, 

 which, considering the gorsy nature of the covers they draw, has 

 doubtless its advantage; but, on the other hand, it detracts 

 largely from the good looks, and even the dignity of the dog in 



