744 THE DOG. 



become in time a true fowler's breed. In England we early 

 possessed dogs suited for fowling ; and the pointer appears to 

 have been derived from Spain, which is still noted for pro- 

 ducing this class of dogs. The pointer was accordingly 

 termed Spainyeart or Spaniel, though the true Spaniel is 

 distinct from the Spanish Lyine-hound or Pointer, and ought 

 not to be confounded with it. 



From whatever mixture of blood the Pointer may have 

 been derived, yet being descended from animals habituated to 

 a particular pursuit, the habit acquired by him has become, as 

 it were, an instinct of the breed, so that the whelp of the true 

 pointer scarcely needs even instruction to teach him to steal 

 upon his game in silence, and stand when he approaches it. 

 Education, indeed, is required to instruct him in the particu- 

 lar practices which the nature of the sport requires, but the 

 general habit may be said to be as natural to him as that of 

 pursuing game by the eye is to the greyhound, or by the 

 scent to the beagle. 



The term Setter is in England applied to different kinds 

 of dogs employed in the chase of feathered game ; and most 

 of them have a relation more or less defined with the pointer. 

 The Old English Setter, now rare, is a highly esteemed dog 

 of this class, and has given birth to numerous varieties more 

 or less approaching to it in characters. The setters are by 

 many sportsmen preferred to the pointers, as being more agile 

 and enduring, and so better fitted for following game in a 

 mountainous country ; but they require a longer course of dis- 

 cipline than the pointers, and do not in the same degree trans- 

 mit the habitudes impressed upon them to their offspring. 



III. THE SPANIEL is a general name for certain races of 

 beautiful dogs which we owe to the countries of the Mediter- 

 ranean, and in which, it is probable, the blood of the African 

 Canidse has been mixed with that of the dogs of Western Asia 

 and Europe. From the great variety which this class of dogs 

 presents, it is reasonable tobelieve that they are of mixed blood. 



