~. MODERN TRAINING. 



If the spaniel had thrown off a variety, as it must have done 

 to originate the setter (otherwise no change could have been 

 effected), whether it was done little by little or at once, 

 there is every probability that it would have been lost in the 

 first generation or two, (i) from intercrossing with the pure 

 parent type, (2) from the natural tendency to revert to 

 ancestral prototypes, and (3) from the probability that the 

 variation would not be cultivated and preserved. This may 

 very well be conjectured ; for if a family of setters at the 

 present day showed a constant tendency to vary their forms 

 and instincts with each succeeding generation till they 

 became a distinct breed, the owner would condemn the pro- 

 geny as being mongrel, inasmuch as it could not reproduce 

 itself purely. Moreover, if the setter is a variety of 

 improved spaniel, therefore a variety of spaniel, it and the 

 parent stock would still have an inherent tendency to vary 

 or throw off numerous varieties, for there is no probability 

 that a variety would uniformly improve and breed with all 

 the characteristic modifications, habits and instincts up to a 

 certain degree useful to man, neither reverting to ancestral 

 forms when neglected, nor varying into other forms when 

 reproducing itself under constantly varying conditions of 

 climate, selection, food supply, etc., and then become per- 

 manently fixed ; but admitting the change in form, it is 

 hardly supposable that it would be associated with changed 

 instincts correspondingly useful to man, it having already 

 been noted that changes of form are not accompanied by 

 any perceptible changes in instinct, much less changes uni- 

 formly and relatively useful to man. 



Setters and pointers have a great many characteristics in 

 common; their hunting instincts and modes of pursuing 

 their prey are the same in the general features, and there is 

 a close analogy in race type and habits, the chief distinctive 

 characteristic being the coat. If a typical setter is clipped 



