286 Modern Dogs. 



actually identical, with our modern English setter, 

 was. known as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries. 



There are many other paintings of sporting 

 scenes and accessories that include dogs of some 

 kind or other ; but the writer has not met with any 

 so old as those already alluded to where the artist 

 has so nearly delineated the English setter of the 

 present day. 



Aldrovandus, who died in 1607, had written an 

 immense work on Natural History, a portion of which 

 was published posthumously. Amongst other sub- 

 jects, he wrote about dogs, but, his history being in 

 Latin, and somewhat scarce, a reference thereto has 

 not always been attainable. He illustrates two varieties 

 of what are called the Spanish dog, and one of them 

 is described as having " pendulous ears, chest and 

 belly white, with black spots, the rest of the body 

 black." The engraving accompanying this descrip- 

 is an odd-looking creature, one that might by 

 courtesy be considered a bad spaniel. The stern is 

 setter-like in length, but carried gaily over the back. 

 The ears are very long, set high on the head, and 

 there is a fair amount of feather and coat both on 

 them, on the body, and on the legs. Aldrovan- 

 dus's second specimen is a rather bigger dog than 

 the other, and the colour might be black and white. 



