NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. " 23 



d, The Maltese, BichoTif BuflF. ; e, The lion dog, Can. leoniniLs, 

 Lin. ; f, The Calabrian dog ; g^ The hunting spaniel or cocker,i^ 

 which yields the setter, Can, index, Lin.^^ — Addenda, The New- 

 foundland dog^^; The Alpine spanieU^. 



direct line. Another was shewn to me by the late Lady Castlereagh, received 

 after a similar restriction. Even the Duchess of York could not obtain one 

 but on the same terms, as she herself informed me. 



'^ No dog presents such endless varieties as the Spaniel; all, however, 

 admit of two common divisions, into land and water spaniels : the latter are 

 derived from the northern, the former from the eastern dogs. Land Spaniels 

 are all characterized by a long silky coat ; and whether strong and muscular, 

 or slender and dimumtive, they are equally elegant and interesting. They are 

 proverbially faithful ; and to the sportsman they are highly important, from 

 their keen scent, and their attachment to the pursuit of game. 



'* The Setter, it is probable, is principally derived from the spaniel, and not, 

 as has been supposed, from a mixture of spaniel and pointer. Robert Dudley, 

 Duke of Northumberland, is recorded as the first person who broke (to the 

 net) a setter (i. e. a spaniel), so called from its lying down before game until 

 a net was drawn over both dog and game. After this aptitude had been dis- 

 played, it is natural to suppose that the breed would be continued, and that 

 future cultivation has increased its size and powers. The setter retained the 

 nemie of spaniel until of late years ; and to this day he is called, in Ireland, 

 the English spaniel. Gay calls him the " creeping spaniel ;" Thomson, also, 

 has 



How, in his mid career, the spaniel struck 

 Stiff by the tainted gale, with open nose 

 Outstretch'' d, S^c. 



The old English setter is now scarce, and has given place to a breed of less 

 docility and subjection, but of enlarged size and increased speed : these are 

 mostly red, and are of Irish origin. The term Index, by which the setter has 

 been known, it is evident is not more appropriate : indeed, it is less so than 

 to the pointer. 



*^ The Newfoundland dog, now so much cultivated among us, was, without 

 doubt, of Eastern origin, and was not, as we believe, indigenous to the country 

 he takes his name from ; on the contrary, we are inclined to regard him as 

 derived from a large dog of the spaniel type, certainly not native to the frigid 

 region of Newfoundland ; but that he had been planted there by some visitors 

 or settlers from warmer and more cultivated countries. These would be en- 

 coiuraged by the natives of Newfoundland, because their aptitude as beasts of 



