154 THE AXGLER AXD HFXTSMAX 



The dog, no matter what his breed or strain may chance 

 to be, is nothing more than a creature of environment, as are 

 all other creatures, whether they be animal or human beings. 

 The nature of the country in which they live and the nature 

 of the food they must necessarily live upon dictate their 

 characteristics. If the hound lives in a country wherein 

 rabbits are plentiful and there is an absence of practically 

 all other game for food, the hound will take naturally to 

 running rabbits ; if the hound lives in a country infested by 



THE PERFECT COON HOUND. 



foxes, other game being practically absent, that hound will 

 certainly chase foxes; if that hound lived in a land wherein 

 only coon furnished a means of satisfying his hunger, we do 

 not doubt that he would run coon. This is environment. 



We believe that if a setter or pointer lived in a land un- 

 inhabitated by birds or fowl of any description, that dog 

 would eventually take to stalking or chasing the particular 

 kind of game to be found there, whether it be coon, fox, 

 squirrel, rabbit or whatnot. The first law of nature the 



