268 Modern Dogs. 



sufficiently perfect in their way for modern require- 

 ments, and there is, in reality, no ostensible reason 

 for the preference of the one over the other, ex- 

 cepting, as I have stated, where a scarcity of water 

 is concerned. In fact, they are equal ; with similar 

 surroundings and in similar health there is nothing 

 to choose -between the two, nor is there in staunchness. 

 It has been said that the setter is less steady, more 

 difficult to command, and not so easy to break as 

 the pointer. Such is not so. 



There are strains of both that are equally wild and 

 headstrong, and, as a matter of fact, such, when 

 once brought under command, produce the most 

 successsful dogs as field trial winners ; and, when 

 birds are scarce, and the extent of land to be worked 

 over very extensive, they are the best dogs in the 

 field for practical work. In a wet stormy country, 

 where the climate is cold and chilly, the going 

 rough and covert thick, the ordinary pointer may be 

 at a discount, and he has been found to be so in 

 some parts of Scotland, the Highlands and else- 

 where ; but, excepting where the circumstances and 

 surroundings are exceptional, our modern pointer will 

 do all that is required of him ; work a long day, and 

 come up the following one ready to do another, and to 

 assist his master to fill the game bag. 



I consider the usual light colour of the pointer is to 



