90 DOMESTICATED DOGS FOR THE GUN. 



the high-bred pointer is short and soft to the touch ; but for hard 

 work, especially on the moors, a dog with rather a wiry coat, and 

 well clothed with hair on the legs and feet, should be preferred; 

 but these will show rather more hair on the stem than is thought 

 to be characteristic of high breeding ; yet let the stern be ever so 

 hairy, there ought to be the same small bone and pointed tip as in 

 the engraving 



Among pointers there are no national divisions corresponding 

 with those of the setters. There are, however, two distinct vari- 

 eties, strongly marked by color, viz., the lemon and white, and 

 the liver and white, besides the black and white, the whole liver, 

 and the whole black strains ; but these last are not common in the 

 present day, and the appearance of one on the show bench is 

 almost as rare as a black swan. Among the liver and whites, the 

 dogs are often too heavy for much speed or endurance — a remark- 

 able exception being the celebrated Drake (see page 21), bred by 

 Sir R. Garth, and sold by him at a high figure in his seventh season 

 to Mr. R. J. Lloyd Price, of Wales, at which advanced age he went 

 as fast, and showed as good a nose, as most puppies even of high 

 class. This dog was in his day the fastest and most wonderful 

 animal that ever quartered a field, and his race up to a brace of 

 birds at Shrewsbury in the field trials of 1868, when the ground 

 was so dry as to cause a cloud of dust to rise on his dropping to 

 their scent, was a sight which will probably never be seen again. 

 He was truly a phenomenon among pointers. His extraordinary 

 pace compelled his dropping in this way, for otherwise he could 

 not have stopped himself in time, but when he had lost pace in 

 his seventh season, he began frequently to stand up, as represented. 

 In appearance, he is not taking, having a plain head with a some- 

 what throaty neck ; but his frame is all through good, and there is 

 no lumber about him. 



THE PORTUGUESE POINTER 



Resembles the Spanish in general form, but is furnished with a 

 busby stern, and looks like a cross with the old-fashioned spaniel 



