THE DOG 



29 



numerous folds. Long ears, some- 

 times touching the ground when the 

 dog is following a scent, complete one 

 of the most original of the canine race. 



Besides these three small species 

 hunting is still done with little span- 

 iels, among which are the yellow 

 clumbers, the Susse.x browns, the 

 fields, black or variegated, and the 

 cocker spaniels, also black or striped. 

 All these dogs, trained to bring back 

 the game, have long, low bodies and 

 are very active and easily trained to 

 their work. The weight of a good 

 cocker spaniel should never exceed 

 twenty-five pounds. 



Water spaniels have frizzled, close- 

 curled hair. There are two species — 

 the Irish, which is brown, and the 

 English, which is black, brown, or pie- 

 bald, both being excellent and very 

 active hunters. A taste for hunting- 

 seems inborn in them ; they are 

 scarcely out in the open country be- 

 fore they forget everything except their train- 

 ing. It is not surprising, therefore, that a 

 cocker spaniel on one occasion showed his 

 contempt for a bad sportsman. His master 

 had lent him for some days to a friend, and 

 Banker (that was the dog's name) started at 

 once to search the fields with the greatest 

 zeal. He had already scented a covey of par- 

 tridges and caused them to take wing, but 

 the sportsman missed his shot, to the great 



Beagles 



Photo J. T. Newman, Berkhampstead 



French B..\sset 



amazement of the dog. The latter repeated 

 his duty three times, the sportsman proving 

 equally inexpert. This angered the dog. He 

 stopped his work, appeared to reflect, walked 

 back to the sportsman and three times round 

 him ; then he raised his paw, laid it on the 

 man's boot, turned away, and went straight 

 back to his own home. And yet people say 

 that dogs have no minds ! 



The German zvatcluiog. In judging of the 

 beauty of a breed we often run 

 up against the impossibility (in 

 this and in other cases) of giving 

 a clear definition, applicable in 

 all cases, of the idea of beauty, 

 and the dog which shows in his 

 exterior neither monotony nor 

 excess in any particular is apt 

 to carry the day. The German 

 watchdog is such a one, and he 

 imites his good qualities in ex- 

 cellent proportion. Strength, 

 elegance, a slim neck, the head 

 high, the movements rapid but 



