The Poodle. 169 



The writer of the article alludes to the skill 

 with which the poodle, when used in France for 

 duck shooting, collects the wounded game at 

 night-time, in which work he shows skill and 

 intelligence simply unsurpassable, in short, he is 

 so well adapted for that sort of work that in 

 French his generic name caniche^ is decidedly 

 derived from duck (canard). He is also called 

 chien canne, which is quite as much a derivation ; 

 and in some districts where the ooze abounds 

 the name barbet is applied to him, this word being 

 a diminutive for barboteur, i.e., a mud-lark, a dog 

 fond of paddling about in the mud. Some writers 

 have, on the contrary, held the barbet to be a 

 diminutive poodle, the toy of the variety in fact, 

 but we must accept Mr. Clement's opinion, 

 supported as it is by " Stonehenge," as most likely 

 to be correct. It seems rather odd that these 

 working poodles, which have to endure the cold 

 water in winter, and the mud and the slush, for 

 the most part have their jackets cut, the curls 

 being taken closely off from the middle of the 

 back to the hocks, and the remainder of the coat 

 is more or less trimmed. Some of the continental 

 fowlers likewise clip him on the face, leaving the 

 moustache and an " imperiale," a quaint and odd 

 idea, which in no way can add to the utility of the 



