628 



Some American Sporting Dogs. 



in the pointer. But whatever the color, the good points of this dog 

 are to be seen almost at a glance, from his build and the shortness 

 of his coat. The fashionable pointer of the present day is a very 

 different animal from his heavy, lumbering ancestor. Many years 

 ago, a cross of fox-hound was introduced, and to that we are indebted 



BLACK-AND-WHITE POINTER " WHISKY." (OWNED BY WESTMINSTER KENNEL CLUB, 



NEW-YORK CITY.) 



for the lighter-framed, more elegant animal we now possess, and 

 probably also for the variations in color from the old orthodox liver, 

 or liver and white. " Idstone " says that the pointer should be 

 modeled to a great extent after the fox-hound, but that his head 

 should be finer, his nose square, the upper lip slightly in excess 

 of the lower, the corners of the mouth well flewed. The forehead 

 should be raised but not round ; it should be depressed in the center, 

 almost forming a ridge [i. e., the furrow down the middle of the 

 head separates it into two slightly rounded halves]. There should be 

 a well-pronounced "stop" between the eyes; the ears should be 

 thin, flexible and silky, of moderate size, set rather far back, but 

 lying close to the head. The nasal bone should be depressed in the 

 center, and should turn upward slightly. The head of " Sensation," 

 in the cut on the preceding page, conforms more closely to these 

 conditions than that of any other dog I have seen. The other 

 proportions by which the pointer is judged in this country are as 

 follows : 



" Body rather inclined to be long, but not much so, thickening from the head to the 

 set-in of the shoulders no looseness of the throat-skin, shoulders narrow at the meeting 



