108 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



adapted; and for the sport of snipe-shooting alone they are entitled to the 

 preference of every other. 



The Russian branch of this family of dogs is said to 

 strongly resemble the later Russian Setter, and many good 

 authorities consider them almost identical. It is not appro- 

 priate here to enter into any extended description of the 

 Russian Setter, further than to say that he is considered a 

 very superior dog on game, and that several dashes of his 

 blood have been infused, with benefit, into some strains 

 of our modern Setters. 



The German Pointer is a heavy-set, large-boned dog, with 

 prominent news, and considerable throatiness; generally 

 liver or liver-and-white in color, though not always. He is 

 believed to be particularly strong in the blood of the Span- 

 ish Pointer, and his slow but sure methods of hunting con- 

 firm the belief. He is extensively used in Germany, and as 

 an all-around game dog has few superiors. There are two 

 varieties of this useful dog, the Smooth-coated and the 

 Rough-coated the latter probably being akin to the Rus- 

 sian Pointer, above referred to. With reference to these 

 dogs, we quote the following letter, recently published in 

 the American Field, and written by a prominent German 

 sportsman: 



Our dogs must have a different training from the dog used by sportsmen 

 in England or America. We can not successfully hunt here with the Pointer 

 or Setter. We need dogs Oebrauchshunde adapted to all purposes, a sort of 

 an all-round dog. This rule especially applies to the Government forester, who 

 is compelled to be out in the forest every day in the year, and whose dog must 

 not only be insensible, in a high degree, to all temperatures, but must also, in case 

 of need, render assistance to his master against game-sneakers, who frequently 

 are a dangerous class of men, and often make a murderous attack on the officer 

 w r hen he interferes with their unlawful pursuits. 



English Pointers and Setters are the acknowledged champion bird dogs, 

 but very few of them can be trained to retrieve a hare or fox at a great dis- 

 tance, or to bring a duck out of the cold water and through thick weeds, or to 

 follow the trail of a wounded stag or roebuck. 



Yet a hunting dog in this country must combine all these qualities. He is 

 expected to have a good nose, to search the field all day, in the hot month of 

 August, for partridges, and make a firm stand when he finds them; lie must 

 work in water for ducks, in warm or cold weather; he must follow a wounded 

 hare or fox, when brought on the trail, for miles, and retrieve the game the 



