368 SHOOTING. 



tion ; but in reality inducing a deformity. One 

 of these imaginary standards of perfection is, that 

 to one part thorough Spanish blood, the pointer 

 should have in him an eighth of the fox-hound, 

 and a sixteenth of the blood-hound. A cross will 

 sometimes produce dogs which are, in some eyes, 

 the beau ideal of beauty ; but however handsome 

 such dogs may be, they will necessarily possess 

 some quality not belonging to the pointer; for 

 instance, a cross with the hound gives the propen- 

 sity to trace hares, if not to give tongue. A 

 thorough-bred pointer carries his head well up 

 when ranging ; he will not give tongue, nor has 

 he much desire to chase footed game. The hound 

 pointer may be sometimes detected by his coarse 

 ears, by his tail being curled upwards, and being 

 carried high, or by his rough coat. An occasional 

 cross with the mastiff or Newfoundland dog is said 

 to increase the fineness of nose, but it is converting 

 the pointer into a mere retriever. Another, and 

 the main source of the unsightliness of sporting 

 dogs, is the allowing an indiscriminate intercourse 

 between pointers and setters. Good dogs may be 

 thus obtained sometimes, but they are invariably 

 mis-shapen ; they have generally the head and 

 brush tail of the setter, with the body of the 

 pointer, and their coats are not sleek, and instead 

 of standing at their point, they will crouch. When 

 the sire is nearly thorough-bred, dogs of a supe- 

 rior description, but certainly not the best, are 

 sometimes produced by the Newfoundland or some 

 other bitch not strictly a pointer. We are not 



