*S THE SHOOTER'S GUIDE. 



times happens, especially in a dry summer, that water 

 is not to be met with so often as the former seems to 

 require in those mountainous countries where grouse 

 are chiefly found It might naturally enough be 

 asked, why a setter requires water in hot weather 

 ofteuer than a pointer ? It arises, no doubt, from 

 the former being more thickly clad; and this will be 

 found to obtain in all dogs that have much hair com- 

 pared with those which have but tbin coats. How- 

 ever, the feet of the setter are much better defended 

 against the sharp cutting of the heath than those of 

 the pointer, by having a great deal of hair growing 

 between the toes, and round the ball of the foot, of 

 which the other is almost destitute: for this reason 

 also, when the ground has become hard by frost, his 

 superiority is strikingly conspicuous : at the same 

 time he ranges much faster, and will endure a great 

 deal more fatigue. In any rough country, the setter 

 has certainly the advantage; while the pointer is 

 perhaps equally good where there is nothing but what 

 may be termed smooth hunting. The setter is a 

 high-mettled creature, and is frequently extremely 

 hard to be broke in; it requires more exercise, and 

 more game to be killed to it, to make it steady, than 

 the pointer ; yet setters are, I think, less apt to have 

 too much set. * 



In hunting for woodcocks or pheasants, they have 



* When a dog frequently makes a steady point, and the 

 game is gone, he is said to have loo much set. 



