SETTER TO RETRIEVE. 639 



293. I say setter rather than pointer, not on account 

 of his more affectionate, and perhaps more docile dis- 

 position for certainly he is less liable to sulk under 

 punishment, but because, thanks to his long coat, he 

 will be able to work in any cover, and that from nature 

 he " roads " quicker. 



I must, however, plead guilty for many good sports- 

 men will think I evince bad taste to a predilection for 

 setters meaning always cautious setters a partiality, 

 perhaps, attributable to having shot more over wild, 

 uncertain ground than in well-stocked preserves. Doubt- 

 less, in a very inclosed country, where game is abundant, 

 pointers are preferable, far preferable, more especially 

 should there be a scarcity of water ; but for severe and 

 fast work, and as a servant of all work, there is nothing, 

 I humbly conceive, like the setter. He may be, and 

 generally is, the more difficult to break; but, when 

 success has crowned your efforts, what a noble, enduring, 

 sociable, attached animal you possess. I greatly, too, 

 admire his long, stealthy, blood-like action, for I am 

 not speaking of the large heavy sort before which in old 

 days whole coveys used to be netted, and the animated 

 waving of his stern, so strongly indicative of high 

 breeding ; though strange to say, in gracefulness of 

 carriage, the fox, when hunting, and actually on game, 

 far excels him. But we are again getting astray beyond 

 our proper limits ; let us keep to the subject of dog- 

 breaking. 



294. As it will be your endeavor, during your pupil's 



