BREAKING AND HANDLING. 31 



breeding with respect to field form, being the prime causes 

 of his advancement. The quick, snappy work of setters 

 when on game, was always an insurmountable obstacle 

 to the average pointer in competition with them; but the 

 pointers have greatly improved in their execution, and un- 

 doubtedly in time, if bred by selecting the best working 

 dogs, they will be able to compete on an equal footing with 

 the setters. Some field trial associations have special stakes 

 for pointers, which is a wise measure until such times as the 

 pointers are bred in sufficient numbers to place them on an 

 approximate equality. 



However, decided improvement seems to be confined to 

 individuals here and there and not to the breed as a whole. 

 Taking into consideration the pointer's faultiness in becom- 

 ing "stale" if overworked, that is, to become indifferent to 

 hunting, and slow and pottering in his manner, and the long 

 rest required to renew his ardor, also the loss of dash, pace 

 and range nearly always exhibited after the third or fourth 

 year, it is an open question whether the nature of the dog 

 can be changed by the most careful selection to even equal 

 the setters in working powers. 



Having thus briefly considered the dog in particular, we 

 will next discursively consider a few collateral topics. 



The origin of the setter has greatly exercised the specu- 

 lative faculties of many writers, and, finally, in most 

 instances, they have comfortably settled on the theory that 

 the setter is a variation from spaniel stock. There is no 

 very good reason for this theory except that it has the least 

 absurdity of the conjectures advanced. As to the proof 

 adduced, there is none of the origin of the setter in a span- 

 iel ancestry other than the vaguest tradition and conjecture, 

 the latter being the chief support. It would be quite as 

 reasonable, and quite as difficult to prove, that the spaniel 

 is a variety of the setter. They both have certain analogies 



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