THE NEWFOUNDLAND RETRIEVER. 219 



to say, the wild-fowl are instigated by some sort of insane 

 curiosity to sail up close to the hidden fowler, and, after 

 being shot at again and again, still to rush on their fate, 

 without aim or object, in pursuit of the cur or mongrel 

 water-spaniel which is trained thus to inveigle them. 



This animal, however, is a mere cur, and the extent of 

 his discipline and training is limited to running back- 

 ward and forward after sticks or stones, cast from behind 

 the blind, without appearing to take any notice of the 

 ducks, which, if he pause to look at them, will often swim 

 away or take wing on the instant. 



For the recovery of the crippled birds, however, the 

 Newfoundland dog is used, of the truest and purest type ; 

 not the huge woolly Labradorean, but the short, small- 

 eared, compact, vigorous dog of St. Johns, easily recog- 

 nized by his long, stout, waving coat, never curled or knot- 

 ted like the water-spaniel's or poodle's, by his neat, delicate, 

 rounded ear, and his stern never curled up over his back, 

 but carried pendulous, or stretched out at length when 

 he is in chase, like the brush of a fox, or the flag of a 

 setter. 



This dog is a pure spaniel of the largest existing spe- 

 cies. He is, perhaps, the most powerful, enduring and 

 dauntless of all dogs. Certainly, and beyond dispute, he 

 is the most sagacious, the most faithful, the most easily 

 taught, and the most retentive of what he has learned of 

 all varieties of his race. When much accustomed to one 

 master, who is fond of them, and who has the knack of 

 teaching and making himself beloved at the same time, 

 they become so intelligent as to understand every word 



