24: VARIETIES OF SHOOTING. 



fully developed in the setter, and his want of steadiness, as 

 compared with that of the pointer, is soon cured by the work 

 which he has to perform. So, also, although the season for 

 grouse is three weeks earlier than that for partridges, yet the 

 air is so cool on the moors that the dogs do not suffer nearly 

 so much in August from heat as they do in September on 

 the low grounds of Norfolk and Suffolk frequented by the 

 partridge shooter. Water is also generally in abundance; 

 and hence it is found by experience that a team of good 

 setters will, in grousing, beat an equally good lot of pointers, 

 each being composed of first-rate animals of their kind. 

 Very many excellent dogs of the latter variety are met with 

 occasionally, but as a class they are deficient in courage, and, 

 partly, from being bred for partridge shooting, their range 

 is too limited, and their feet and legs soon become sore for 

 want of the natural covering of hair peculiar to the setter. 

 A cross between the two, called " the dropper," is sometimes 

 found to produce an excellent dog, combining the good 

 qualities of each ; but to breed one good one in a dozen puppies 

 is quite the highest average, the other eleven being gene- 

 rally defective in some respects. Russian setters have also 

 been tried in the north, but their coats are too long and 

 woolly to work well in heather, and they have never been 

 approved of there, nor are they now very common anywhere 

 in this country. My advice, therefore, to those who want 

 dogs for grouse shooting only, is to have a team of setters, 

 taking care that the breed is a good one, and that they are 

 well broken, and worked up to the day before the 12th of 

 August, so as to insure their steadiness. If, however, the 

 same dogs are also to be used in partridge shooting, it is quite 

 a doubtful question ; but I should be inclined to prefer a hardy 

 and high-couraged breed of pointers, as they are more readily 

 made to accommodate the nature and extent of their range 

 than are setters, who are naturally more self-willed and 

 headstrong. Indeed, as a rule, it may be said that the setter 

 is never broken; for however steady he may be, if he is 

 allowed to rest for a week, his courage is so high that he will 

 show a little wildness, while a thoroughly broken pointer is 

 to be depended on from season to season, unless he is spoilt 

 by bad shooting or bad management of some kind. 



