Some American Sporting Dogs. 



621 



FOX-HUNTING IN THE SOUTH. 



arrive on their annual southern migration ; and then we have not 

 only the cold weather which makes the setter comfortable in his 

 thicker jacket, but we must go into the wet lands to find snipe, and 

 the ponds or lakes for ducks. Here the setter undeniably has the 

 advantage ; for although the pointer will go into the water if ordered, 

 or, if highly bred, into the most tangled thicket, his shivering and 

 shaking discomfort in the one instance, and his lacerated and bleeding 

 skin in the other, make him an object of compassion to a considerate 

 master, and militate against the pleasures of the hunt. But the 

 question is by no means, as yet, decided against the pointer. There 

 b another thing in his favor which is well worthy of consideration 

 before we arrive at a conclusion, and that is the comparative ease 

 with which he is broken, and his excellent quality of retaining his 

 education when once it has been fully perfected. Indeed, so much 

 am I impressed with the value of that quality, that I should almost 

 be tempted, in spite of a strong penchant for the setter, to suggest to 



