DOOS ADAPTED TO SPORTING IN AMERICA. 219 1 



marsh lands for Spring Snipe. Both Pointers and Setters 

 have their warm friends and advocates, but in my opinion 

 the Setter is far the most generally useful animal, and con- 

 sequently the dog for this country. In support of this esti- 

 mate I quote again from Laverack, who says: "That the 

 Setter is the most generally useful of shooting dogs, I fancy 

 few will deny, being possessed of more lasting powers of 

 endurance, therefore better adapted for all localities and 

 weathers. The Setter can stand cold or heat alike; the 

 hair on his feet and between his toes allows him to hunt 

 rough cover as well as the Spaniel." In the course of over ' 

 twenty 3'ears experience in the field I have met with a 

 great many dogs, and have seen Pointers and Setters thor- 

 oughly tested together, yet have never found the Pointer 

 that could follow a good Setter halfway through a season, 

 beginning with Snipe in March and ending with Ruffed 

 Grouse in December, nor do I believe the Pointer ever ex- 

 isted that could do this. It has never been my fortune to 

 hunt much in the Southern States, and I know the Poin- 

 ter is very popular there, so 1 will concede him superiority 

 in those portions where the ground is dry and open and 

 the climate hot; I will also grant that for Grouse shooting 

 on the prairies from August 15 to October 10 he can beat 

 the Setter, because generally the prairies are very dry 

 and the Setter needs water even more than the Pointer; 

 but here his superiority ends; each of these dogs has his 

 sphere, and this is the Pointer's. It is, however, limited 

 both in extent and in time, for no sooner have the extreme 

 heats of Summer passed than the Settei\can go to the 

 prairies and do fully as good work as the Pointer, proving 

 himself in all respects equal on the Pointer's own ground, 

 while the latter dog cannot follow the Setter through 

 tangled cockbrakes in July, nor through the frost-hardened, 

 thorny covers where the Fall woodland game birds dwell. 

 These assertions are not matters of mere personal opin- 

 ion, for they are susceptible of proof, and I know that they 

 are endorsed by most if not all of our practically experi- 

 enced sportsmen, as well as foreign authorities, one of 



