100 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



descendant of the dog known in English literature as the 

 "Brach," which is supposed to have been introduced into 

 England during the Norman invasion, in the eleventh 

 century; and such may possibly be the case, but the fact 

 has never been sufficiently verified. The Braque is one of 

 the varieties of pointing dogs used in France, and was 

 formerly known under that name, with varied orthography, 

 in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Germany. 



Our American lexicographers deline " brach " as u a bitch 

 of the Hound kind," and give Shakespeare [1564-1616] as 

 their authority. Worcester also gives the definition of "a 

 Pointer, or setting dog," and also uses Shakespeare as 

 authority for that. Richardson, in his dictionary, defines 

 " brach" to mean u a kind of short-tailed setting dog, 

 ordinarily spotted or parti-colored." 



It must also be borne in mind +hat the word "hound," 

 which is given as one of the earliest varieties of dogs, by 

 different writers, signifies simply "a dog" in Anglo-Saxon, 

 or Old English, and also in German; so that one of the 

 varieties of Hounds existing so early in England may have 

 been the " Brach," or pointing bird-dog; and it is just pos- 

 sible that the Spanish Pointer (or Braco) may have been 

 crossed with the English varieties of the Brach family to 

 produce certain strains of the modern Pointer. Aldrovan- 

 dus, a celebrated Italian naturalist of the sixteenth century, 

 gives the colors of the Brach as black, white, and fulvous, 

 or brownish-yellow, the color similar to that of the spotted 

 lynx (ticks), being most sought after as appears in the 

 Dalmatian Pointer (or coach-dog), and so often in popular 

 strains of the modern Pointer. A French encyclopedia 

 also gives the following definition of the Braque : ' ' The 

 Braque, or pointing dog, is ordinarily of a white color, 

 ticked with liver or black; his ears are long and pendent, 

 and his muzzle somewhat large and long." 



Sir Walter Scott [1771-1832], in several of his works, 

 makes reference to the Brach in his description of hunting- 

 scenes; so that, in view of all the facts, it is not beyond 

 the realm of reasonable conjecture that a short-haired 



