366 



SHOOTING. 



ever,, the vaunted excellence of British pointers, 

 the generality of them are not such as they ought 

 to be. It is much to be lamented that the same 

 care is not taken in the breeding of pointers and 

 setters as of hounds. Scarcely two pointers are to 

 be seen so much alike, that a naturalist would 

 pronounce them to belong to the same class of dogs, 

 inasmuch as they are dissimilar in size, weight, 

 and appearance. We recognise only two pointers, 

 the Spaniard and the mongrel. Nearly all the 

 pointers we see are, in fact, mongrels, although 

 each may have more or less of the original Spanish 

 blood. Such, however, is the force of nature, 

 that a dog having in him very little of the blood 

 of the pointer may prove a very serviceable dog 

 to the shooter. We frequently meet with very 

 good dogs dogs deemed by their owners first- 

 rate which bear little resemblance, in point of 

 shape and appearance, to the true pointer ; some 

 of these have the sharp nose of the fox, others 

 the snubbed nose of the bull-dog ; in short, there 

 is every possible diversity in size and appearance, 

 from the greyhound to the pug. The excellence 

 of such dogs must be attributed to judicious 

 treatment, severe discipline, or from having been 

 constantly out with a good shot, or in company 

 with highly-trained dogs. It is, however, a mis- 

 take to suppose that they are of a proper strain 

 to breed from. Their offspring will be deformed, 

 and will probably manifest some of the worst and 

 more hidden qualities of the parents. 



The attempt to lay down a written rule whereby 



