!74 MODERN TRAINING. 



multitude of unskillful ones, through a comparatively brief 

 period of time. Pointing is merely supplementary to the 

 hunting instinct; merely a detail of it. Any explanation of 

 the origin of the instinct other than that it is natural is 

 rendered still more trifling when it is considered that the 

 dog's teeth, digestive organs and instincts denote that he is 

 a carnivorous animal, therefore a hunter; hence hunting his 

 natural prey in his natural manner cannot be the result of 

 education. This view, as aforementioned, is confirmed by 

 analogous natural methods of hunting prey pursued by 

 other animals. The fox roads, makes his casts to and fro, 

 stops to locate the birds and makes his spring in a manner 

 very similar to that of the pointer and setter, and all this 

 without having had his ancestors taught to drop to command 

 and have a net thrown over them while on birds. The 

 same characteristics are observable, although in a lesser de- 

 gree, in the manner in which a common house cat will steal 

 toward its prey and, when at a proper distance, crouch and 

 spring to capture and kill. Cur dogs will draw stealthily, 

 by sight, to a rabbit, woodchuck or other quarry, and spring 

 on it if they can approach without alarming it. But the 

 most convincing property is that the dog exercises the 

 pointing instinct for his own benefit when left to his will. 

 Only by persistent training are his instincts made subordi- 

 nate to the purposes of the hunter. As to the origin of 

 pointing, it may be said, briefly, that it is unknown, and the 

 cherished conjectures respecting it are poor ones, even for 

 conjectures; moreover, it is as idle to advance any theory 

 regarding its origin as it would be to attempt to explain all 

 the instincts peculiar to the human race or lower animals. 

 Its presence in an abnormal degree or its entire absence is 

 not necessarily any evidence of impure breeding. Instincts 

 frequently vary in intensity in different individuals. Even 

 the strongest of all instincts, the maternal instinct, which is 



