486 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



He was also much more steady than the improved va- 

 riety, but then he has not the same speed to recom- 

 mend him. ... He has an elegant figure, and is of a 

 very pleasing diversity of color; added to this, his 

 skin is covered with a coat of beautifully curled hair, 

 very rilious on the lower margin of the tail, being alto- 

 gether an extremely handsome dog, and quite unri- 

 valed by any of the canine species." 



These views, in a way, are a summation of the evi- 

 dence bearing on the setter's origin. For him whose 

 fancy or prejudgments favor a spaniel origin there is 

 much evidence to humor them. In like manner, there 

 is evidence to console him who prefers a spaniel and 

 pointer origin. For him who can impartially consider 

 the pertinent facts, there also is ample evidence that 

 we do not know the origin of the setter. It is lost in 

 the mists of the ages. What are considered as finalities, 

 at best are merely shrewd speculations concerning it. 



While recognizing that the act of pointing, in a 

 more or less rudimentary form, is exhibited by span- 

 iels and several other breeds of dogs, and, indeed, by 

 cur dogs, under certain circumstances, it is never like 

 the intensity and efficiency of that displayed by setters 

 and pointers. As a matter of speculation, it is much 

 more plausible that the spaniel was crossed on the old 

 Spanish pointer, which was introduced into England 

 centuries ago, and that the cross-bred product might 

 have been the setter. Here was the pointing instinct 

 ready to hand to breed into the spaniel, an exceedingly 

 simple matter as compared to the far-fetched theory 



