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THE RETRIEVER. 



The Irish Setter is very similar to the English animal, but has larger legs in pro- 

 portion to the size of the body, and is distinguished from its English relative by a cer- 

 tain Hibernian air that characterises it, and which, although conspicuous enough to a 

 practised eye, is not easy of description. 



Taking as our authority the author above quoted, in the history of the pointer, the 

 points of the Setter are shortly as follows : " A moderately heavy head, but not so 

 much so as in the pointer ; the muzzle not so broad nor so square in profile, the lower 

 angle being rounded off, but the upper being still nearly a right angle. The eye is 

 similar to that of the pointer, but not so soft, being more sparkling and full of spirit. 

 The ear long, but thin, and covered with soft, silky hair, slightly waved. The neck is 

 long, but straighter than that of the pointer, being also lighter and very flexible. The 

 back and loins are hardly so strong as those of the pointer, the latter also being rather 

 longer ; the hips also are more ragged, and the ribs not so round and barrel-like. The 

 tail or ' flag ' is usually set on a little lower, is furnished with a fan-like brush of long 

 hair, and is slightly curled upwards towards the tip, but it should never be carried 

 over the back or raised above the level of its root, excepting while standing, and then 

 a slight elevation is admired, every hair standing down with a stiff and regular appear- 

 ance. The elbow, when in perfection, is placed so low as to be fully an inch below the 

 brisket, making the fore-arm appear very short. The hind-feet and legs are clothed 

 with hair, or ' feathered,' as it is called, in the same way as the fore-legs, and the 

 amount of this beautiful provision is taken into consideration in selecting the Dog for 

 his points." 



This description applies equally to the English and the Irish Setters. 



While at work, the Setter has a strange predilection for water, and this fancy is 

 carried so far in some Dogs that they will not go on with their work unless they can 

 wet the whole of their coats once at least in every half-hour. If deprived of this lux- 

 ury they pant and puff with heat and exertion, and are quite useless for the time. 



It seems that the Setter is a less tractable pupil than the pointer, and even when 

 taught is apt to forget its instructions and requires a second course of lessons before 

 it will behave properly in the field. Owing to the rough coat "and hair-defended feet 

 of the Setter, it is able to go through more rough work than the pointer, and is there- 

 fore used in preference to that animal in the north of England and in Scotland, 

 where the heat is not so great as in the more southern countries, where the rough stem 

 of the heather would work much woe to a tender- footed Dog, and where the vicissitudes 

 of the climate are so rapid and so fierce that they would injure the constitution of any 

 but a most powerfully built animal. 



This Dog, as well as the foxhound and harrier, is guided to its game by the odor 

 that proceeds from the bird or beast which it is following ; but the scent reaches its 

 nostrils in a different manner. 



The foxhound, together with the harrier and beagle, follows up the odorous track 

 which is left on the earth by the imprint of the hunted animal's feet, or the accidental 

 contact of the under-side of its body with the ground. But the pointer, Setter, spaniel, 

 and other Dogs that are employed in finding victims for the gun, are attracted at some 

 distance by the scent that exhales from the body of its game, and are therefore said to 

 hunt by " body-scent," in contradistinction to the hounds who hunt by " foot-scent." 

 The direction in which the wind blows is, therefore, a matter of some consequence, 

 and is duly taken advantage of by every good sportsman. 



RETRIEVER Dogs, which are so called on account of their value in recovering or 

 " retrieving " game that has fallen out of the reach of the sportsman, or on which he 

 does not choose to expend the labor of fetching for himself, are of various kinds, and 

 in every case are obtained by a crossing of two breeds. There are two principal breeds 

 of Retrievers, the one being obtained by the mixture of a Newfoundland Dog and a 

 setter, and the other by a cross between the water-spaniel and the terrier. 



The former of these breeds is the most generally known, and is the animal which is 

 represented in the engraving. On inspection of this Dog, the characteristics of both 

 parents are plainly perceptible in its form. For the larger kinds of game, such as 



