40 LEWIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



cation are still observable, since, though setters generally have 

 adopted the erect " point" in place of the " set/' many individuals 

 still drop to their game, while pointers very seldom do so, and then 

 only under peculiar circumstances, such as when going at great 

 speed they catch the scent, and drop because they cannot in any 

 other way arrest their advance. Drake, one of the most noted 

 pointers of modern times, habitually dropped, but Drake was one 

 of the fastest dogs that ever ran in English field trials, and it was 

 conceded it was impossible for him to come to a point in a standing 

 position. It is claimed that some of his offspring exhibit his 

 peculiarity, even though not as fast as he was, but this can be more 

 naturally accounted for as the transmission of an individual peculi- 

 arity than as a reversion to original instincts, because Drake's an- 

 cestors did not drop, nor, as we have said, do pointers generally. 

 The theory of reversion would not therefore be tenable, because it 

 would claim a throw back to something which has never been 

 characteristic of the breed. It is easy to account for the change in 

 position in setters upon the ground that they have been encouraged 

 to assume the more elegant erect " point," but the frequency of 

 exhibition of the original "set" shows that the habit resulting 

 from original education is still latent, though weakened by later 

 influences. 



A further argument supporting the view that the set was taught 

 and not instinctive, is found in the fact that, even in the days 

 when spaniels were used in the manner we have described, only a 

 portion of them exhibited this faculty. There was a class known 

 as " Setting Spaniels," yet the earliest pictures of spaniels show no 

 marked differences or apparent variations in characteristics in the 

 individuals represented, so that we are forced to suppose all pictures 

 are those of the same class, or, what is more probable, that there were 

 no decided class distinctions in the land-spaniels, and all belonged 

 to the same division, and possessed the same natural attributes. 

 That some should be taught to set and others not, is easily accounted 

 for by the limited demand for setting dogs, and when the demand 

 increased, it would certainly be more natural to supply it by breed- 



