124 POINTER AND SETTER COMPARED. 



breed may have been preserved more pure in Ireland. The field duties of the Setter 

 and Pointer are the same, but the former is the more active, hardy, and spirited, 

 fearing no ground, wet or dry, nor the thickest covers, his feet being narrow, hard 

 and well defended by hair. He is well fitted for moor and heath, and no day is 

 too long for his unwearied activity and courage. He is to be said sometimes given 

 to strange antipathies, caprices, and self will, in his hunting', of which Mr. Daniel 

 gives a singular instance. The narrowness of his loin is perhaps to be found in 

 many Spaniels, and does not seem to detract from his stoutness in the field ; should 

 this peculiarity require a remedy, it must be sought in attention to that respect in 

 breeding. As to the offensive discharge from the ears so common to Spaniels and 

 Setters, if it be not prevented by cooling purges, accompanied with proper external 

 applications, but suffered to acquire that inveteracy which we often witness in old 

 dogs, the best remedy and far the least painful, in the long run, to tlie animal, is 

 the excision of almost the whole of the ears, and suffering them to bleed considera- 

 bly. When external application can be of use, drying washes, and ointments of which 

 the mel ^Egyptiacum is the basis, may prove most successful, internals not being 

 neglected : of these last, sulphurated water continued for a time, with a few occa- 

 sional doses of calomel, are the medicines most worthy of clependance. 



It has been disputed, very uselessly, whether the Setter or Pointer have the most 

 powerful nose ; but let a Sportsman take a thorough good dog of either kind, into 

 the field, and he will no longer trouble himself with that dispute. Beyond a doubt, 

 the Setter is the most useful gun dog of the two ; but the Pointer is the largest, 

 most stately and shewy, and is admired for his rate, his high ranging and steadiness. 

 The Setter on his part, may put in his claim, and more especially when of the pure 

 breed, to his full share of the intelligence, sagacity, and affection for man, which 

 shines so eminently and so delightfully in the Spaniel. 



The two breeds being of similar use and qualification, an anecdote of either will 

 not be out of place. In the Sporting Magazine, for June 1811, there is a Portrait of a 



Pointer named Basto, the property of Mildred, Esq. of Walton upon Thames. 



This Dog was got by Mr. Rydes* Basto, out of a famous bitch called Romp. He was a 

 naturally staunch and thoroughly trained young dog, and had the peculiar qualifi- 

 cation of bringing his game from water, as well as land. This peculiarity was an 

 inducement to make the quotation, since the Pointer in general is not very ready 

 to take water, and more especially if he be of the fashionable smooth haired cross, 

 of which Basto by his portrait seems a prominent specimen : indeed the picture may 

 almost as well be taken for a Fox Hound as a Pointer. The old Setter would take 

 water very readily, and we have often seen setters used in the amusement of moor- 

 lien shooting in moats and ponds. 



Many Sportsmen prefer the Setter to the Pointer, for Pheasant shooting, as more 

 active and hardy, having so much of the quality of the Spaniel, and thence not 

 flinching at the thickest coverts. On the Moors and for Grouse shooting also, the 



