204 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



rior qualities that he was sold for one hundred and twenty 

 guineas and a cask of Medeira. This cross introduced dif- 

 ferent colors, and we have now the self or uniform colors, 

 such as white, liver, lemon, black, and the black and tan. 

 and mixed colors. Various other ^crosses have been intro- 

 duced from time to time, as experiments, until the dog of 

 to-day is the result of several combined strains of blood. 



The Pointer has no such strongly marked natural divi- 

 sions as the Setter, and the principal distinction between 

 families lie in the color (which has been adopted and bred 

 by different sportsmen) and the size. This last is divided 

 by English show judges into three classes, viz., large, me- 

 dium, and small. The weight of the large Pointer is from 

 seventy pounds upwards; of the medium, from fifty-five to 

 sixty, and of the small variety from forty-five to fifty, the 

 bitches in each class being from five to ten pounds lighter 

 than the dogs. 



The greatest fault (and it is undeniably a great one) in 

 the modern Pointer is his delicacy. While the. Spanish 

 Pointer was a rough-coated, thick-skinned animal, the dog 

 of this day has a fine, satin-like coat, and a skin so thin 

 that he is unfit for cold or severe work upon the half frozen 

 marshes, or in thorny covers. He may, indeed, endure such 

 for a time, through sheer pluck and courage, but it is only 

 a question of time with him, and he must eventually suc- 

 cumb to wounds, sore feet, or frost. 



