428. DOGS USED FOR SPORT. 



spaniel. If your setter has never been taught to retrieve, a more 

 valuable dog than the land retriever it is hardly possible to possess, 

 especially when shooting woodcock and English snipe in the fall 

 of the year. The head of the race of retrievers, we refer to the 

 large and handsome animal, the Newfoundland. The pure breed 

 of this animal is very scarce, and is not of that gigantic size which 

 it is generally supposed to be. 



" Caractacus," in discussing in X^x^ Fancier s Gazette the ques- 

 tion as to whether the Newfoundland dog was indigenous to the 

 island from which he takes his name, says : 



" My own opinion is that European settlers, finding dogs of 

 draught an absolute necessity, and thinking they might improve 

 on the native breeds, imported large dogs of various kinds, as, for 

 instance, the mastiff, the colley, the Alpine spaniel, and the Matin- 

 dog of France, and that the present breed sprang from many 

 roots, and has acquired, from change of climate and other causes, 

 certain peculiarities of its own, and that by careful selection a fixed 

 variety has become established. * * * j ^hj^ii^ t^g probabili- 

 ties are that it owes its origin to several types, and that time, 

 selection, and climatic influences have at last worked it into a dis- 

 tinct variety. I have never been able to hit on any record which 

 would tend to prove that such a dog existed when the island was 

 discovered by Europeans ; and if any one can point to any that 

 will throw a light on the darkness, I shall be delighted beyond 

 measure." 



THE FOX-HOUND. 



The fox-hound, of all dogs used in the field, is by far the most ! 

 numerous. It is generally supposed that the modern fox-hound | 

 derives its origin from the old English hound, and its various points j 

 of perfection from judicious crosses with other breeds. There are i 

 various breeds of dogs which are remarkable for the great devel- , 

 opment of some peculiar faculty — such as speed in the grey-hound, i 

 courage in the bull-dog, delicacy of scent in the bloodhound, saga- , 

 city in the poodle, etc., so when a breed of dogs begins to fail in | 

 any of these points the fault is amended by the introduction of a | 

 dog belonging to the breed which exhibits the needful quality in ' 

 greatest perfection. The fox-hound has not only the greatest j 



