390 THE BOOK OF THE Doc. 



Continent was wholly unknown to our ancestors, together with the art of shooting flying, but 

 so fond are we become of this most elegant of field sports that we now excel all others in the 

 use of the gun and in the breeding and training of the dog. 



" The Spanish Pointer possesses in a high degree the sense of scenting, so that he very 

 rarely or never goes by his game when in pursuit of it ; requires very little training to 

 make him staunch, most of them standing the first time they meet with game, and it is 

 no uncommon occurrence for puppies of three months old to stand at poultry, rabbits, and 

 even cats. But as they grow old they are apt to get idle, and often go over their ground 

 on a trot instead of galloping, and from their loose make and slowness of foot when hunted 

 a few seasons soon tire, have recourse to cunning, and in company let the younger and 

 fleeter dogs beat wide the fields, whilst they do little more than back them, or else make 

 false points. They then become useless but for hunting singly with a sportsman who is not 

 able or not inclined to follow the faster dogs 



" There are other varieties of the Pointer, as the Russian, in size and form like the 

 Spanish ; coat not unlike a drover's dog, rough and shaggy, rough about the eyes, and 

 bearded ; colour like the Spanish, but often grizzle-and-white ; they differ in some being more 

 rough than others. This is probably a cross between the Spanish Pointer and the Barbet or 

 rough water-dog. He has an excellent nose, sagacious, tractable, and easily made staunch ; 

 endures fatigue tolerably well ; takes water readily, and is not incommoded by the most cold 

 and wet weather." 



In the illustration of Pointers which accompanies these remarks of Sydenham Edwards 

 there appears a portrait of a rough-coated dog which is supposed to represent the Russian 

 Pointer. This dog resembles in almost every point the pictures we have seen which purport 

 to portray the Russian Setter of more recent times. It is, therefore, in our opinion, quite 

 within the bounds of probability that the modern Russian Setter is very closely identified with 

 the more ancient Russian Pointer. The remarks of Mr. William Lort upon the former dog, 

 which appeared in a previous chapter, very nearly describe the dog written of by Sydenham 

 Edwards, and certainly the latter's theory on the derivation of the breed appear to be 

 possessed of reason. It is, however, more with the Spanish Pointer that we have to deal at 

 present, for though practically extinct, his close connection with the modern dog entitles him 

 to respect at our hands. 



Mr. Taplin, writing of this dog in the early part of the present century, remarks that : 

 "Every trait upon record respecting their appearance in England is that they were 'in very early 

 ages introduced from Spain, and that they were natives of that country from which their name 

 was derived. The Spanish Pointer in shape, make, strength, seeming stupidity, and bodily 

 tardiness, is a perfect specimen of the most consistent uniformity ; well adapted in all these 

 qualifications to the haughty, somniferous, majestic parade and dignity of the lofty Spaniard, but 

 very inadequate to the life, spirit, agility, and impatient energy of the English sportsman. This 

 race of dog in his natural and unimproved state is a mass of inactivity, as is evidently 

 perceptible by his shape and make, in every point of which is displayed the very reverse of 

 speed and action, objects so truly necessary in almost every sport of the field. The Pointer of 

 this description is short in the head, broad in the forehead, wide in the nose, expansive in 

 the nostrils, simply solicitous in aspect, heavy in the shoulders, short in the legs, almost cir- 

 cular in the form of the carcase, square upon the back, strong across the loins, and remarkably 

 so in the hind-quarters. Although this breed, like the English Pointer (by the many collateral 



