108 DOMESTICATED DOGS FOR THE GUN. 



sidcred a desideratum, in order not only to give notice that the dog 

 is on game, but also the particular kind which he is " questing," 

 and which many good spaniels enable their masters to distinguish 

 by a variation in their notes. Formerly this was thousrht so 

 important, that if a spaniel happened to be mute, he was hunted 

 with a bell round his neck, as is sometimes done with the setter 

 when used in covert. In the present day, a very fashionable 

 breed (the Clumber), is invariably mute; but as these dogs are 

 chiefly used in aid of the battue, there is not the same neces- 

 sity for them to give notice of their approach, as in the case of 

 spaniels used either in wild-pheasant shooting, or for cocks, hares, 

 or rabbits. It will therefore ap]3ear, that, for every kind of covert 

 shooting but the battue, we require a strong useful spaniel, capa- 

 ble of bearing exposure to the weather, and neither too large for 

 the runs, nor too small to bear work. Added to these qualities, 

 we want an exquisite nose, and a musical but not noisy tongue, 

 which is all the more valuable if it will distinguish by its note 

 the various kinds of game. These dogs must also be readily kept 

 under command, and must not be inclined to hunt far away from 

 the shooter, or so fast as to prevent his following them. For 

 various purposes a vast number of breeds have been established, 

 more or less resembling each other, and a good many of them 

 being now extinct, in consequence of the diminished demand for 

 their services since the introduction of battues and their attendant 

 preserves, by which, as a matter of course, wild covert shooting 

 is rendered much more scarce. All the sjsaniels have a marked 

 down carriage of their tails, which they work rapidly when on 



