SPANISH POINTER. 89 



origin of each. By most writers the Spanish pointer is thought to 

 be descended from the hound, but from being kept to one par- 

 ticular kind of work he has gradually become fonder of it than of 

 any other, and those particular faculties which are employed in it 

 have become developed. No dog requires a more keen sense of 

 smell, and in none are tractability, patience, and a kind of reason- 

 ing power, more imperatively demanded. Plence we require a 

 large brain, and a well-developed nose, in order to endow the pos- 

 sessor with the attributes I have enumerated. The first thing, 

 therefore, Avhich was formerly sought for was the full head, large 

 in all its dimensions, and the wider nose, with the pendent flews 

 which generally accompan}^ a high sense of smell, and which, being 

 met with also in the hound, have led to the belief of the descent of 

 the pointer from that variety of the dog. But, accompanying this 

 form of head, there was produced a heavy and unwieldy formation 

 of the body ; and, what is very remarkable, it differed in shape 

 from that of the hound, so that there is strong reason for believing 

 that the two are altogether distinct, and have been kept so from 

 the earliest ages. Indeed, their style of hunting differs so much, 

 that it alone would lead one to suppose them to have had a distinct 

 origin, inasmuch as the hound always drops his nose to the ground 

 in feeling for a scent, while the pointer carries his head in the air, 

 and tries for the body scent as it is wafted on the breeze. The 

 true old Spanish pointer is hardly to be met with now in a pure 

 state, and I therefore insert a copj'^ of an old and well-known por- 

 trait of the animal, which is acknowledged to be correct, and gives 

 his points with great fidelity, showing also how much he exceeds the 



