405 



NOTE S. 



It has been said by some authors, and I think by Mr. Coi- 

 quhoun, in his " Moor and the Lock," that the word " he- 

 vier," signifying a castrated deer, has been derived from tlie 

 French. Although we are indebted to the French for many 

 of our sporting terms, in this instance the word i)as an en- 

 tirely English source. The real word is " Aver ;" and in an 

 old book in the possession of the late Mr. Pyrke, of Dean 

 Hall, in the forest of Dean, the title of which I forget, we 

 found the line, " And thus a ruafo;ed colt becomes a noble 

 aver." On looking further we ascertained that an " aver " 

 signified a " cart-g-eldlno;." 



In the breeding of dogs there are two sorts of uses to which 

 they are put, in which perfection is all a chance. You are 

 pretty sure, by an attention to the sire and dam, to breed a 

 good hound, a good greyhound, a good pointer, a good spaniel, 

 and a good terrier ; but take what choice you please among the 

 best dog and bitch retrievers, to breed a good one is a matter 

 of great uncertainty. One of the causes to which I attribute 

 this is, that generally the best retrievers are not thorough- 

 bred dogs, and if two half-bred dogs are bred from, the off- 

 spring is sure to deteriorate. The same fact as to retrievers 

 ajjplies to fighting-dogs; whatever the sire and dam may be, 

 no man, for that purpose can, with any ajiproach to certainty, 

 count upon the game or punishing capabilities of the whelps. 

 The cross for a retriever that I like best, is that between the 

 Kevvfoundland dog and the setter. 



At one time I paid great attention to the breed of gaze or 



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