Retrievers. 157 



The chest capacious, the barrel stout, and the shoulders wide and 

 strong. 



The loins strong, the buttocks square, and the thighs muscular. 



The legs rather long, straight, strong of bone, and well clothed with 

 muscle, and the feet a good size, rather spreading, without being abso- 

 lutely splay footed. 



The coat, over the whole upper part of the body and sides thick and 

 closely curled, flatter on the belly and the front of the legs, which 

 should, however, be well clad at the back with feathery curls ; the pre- 

 vailing colour is liver and white, but whole liver, black and black and 

 white are also described by some writers. 



The tail is usually docked, rather thick, and covered with curls. 



CHAPTER XXXI. RETRIEVERS. 



BY CORSINCON. 



THERE is, perhaps, no name that is applied to dogs of so many different 

 characters by the general public as Eetriever, and if it can be correctly 

 used to describe the amazing varieties of mongrelism so designated, 

 it must indeed be a most elastic and accommodating term. In fact, 

 every big black or brown or black and white dog with a roughish 

 curly or a wavy coat, is dubbed a retriever. If we go to the Dogs' Home, 

 where so many of the canine street sweepings are always waiting to be 

 claimed, we are sure to find twenty to thirty animals of most opposite 

 and incongruous types, all classed under the generic name of retriever. 

 Open a daily newspaper, and we are sure to find a greater or less number 

 of big black or brown dogs lost, described as retrievers, although 

 probably, not one of them bears more than a remote resemblance to the 

 retriever proper, as seen in such perfection at our dog shows and field 

 trials. 



By a retriever is now understood a dog used with the gun, and which 

 recovers and brings in to the gun lost, wounded, or dead game, and in 



