FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 265 



would wreak his vengeance on this poacher among the game, 

 is not satisfied until he has killed half the covey with the 

 murderous gun, or caught the whole brood in a trap, and 

 wrung off their necks in triumph. 



Condemn not the fox too hastily ; he has a more strikingly 

 carnivorous tooth than yourself, indicating the kind of food 

 he is required to seek ; he takes no wanton pleasure in destroy- 

 ing the bird ; he exhibits to his companions no trophies of his 

 skill, and is contented with a meal ; whilst you are not satisfied 

 when your capacious bird-bag is filled. 



This anecdote is very curious and interesting for several 

 reasons. In the first place, it exhibits the fox in a new cha- 

 racter of higher intelligence, than he has credit for possessing, 

 and in the next, it goes far towards confirming the old 

 Spanish legend, with regard to the pointer dog. This repre- 

 sents the pointer as a made variety, and not an original race. 



The legend represents that a Spanish monk, first observed, 

 in the wild dog of Andalusia, the trick of pausing before the 

 spring upon its prey. As this pause was longer than in any 

 other animal, the idea was at once suggested, that by train- 

 ing, this habit might be made useful. He accordingly tamed 

 a number of these dogs, and finding them somewhat deficient 

 in size, docility and scent, crossed them upon the nobler spe- 

 cies of hound, and hence the pointer was derived. 



I have always been inclined to regard this remarkable story 

 as giving somewhere near the true origin of the pointer, and 

 think it most likely that the wild dog mentioned, was a tran- 

 sition species between the wolf and fox. But apart from 

 these conjectures, this incident illustrates from an entirely 

 new point of view, the predatory habits of the species. 



In the older States, as all other game has been nearly ex- 

 terminated, these nine-lived creatures seem only to have 

 become more abundant, more sagacious and more popular. 

 Spencer, in his "Shepherd's Callender," very clearly inti- 

 mates that this is not the first time in the history of men 



