American Variations 7 



vate ownership of shooting dogs produce a result 

 which the more concentrated and deep-seated 

 breeding fancy in Great Britain cannot equal ; 

 and could not equal even if the fashion of driving 

 game had not diminished their use of dogs. 



So the faster hounds of further-reaching and 

 mellower cry, so the setters and pointers of wider 

 range and keener temperament have been pro- 

 duced — not by any man's system of breeding, 

 but by the constant selection of those which 

 carry the pace under more exacting conditions. 



British writers on sporting dogs are usually 

 ahead of us. They regard their work more 

 seriously. The better books on dogs in England 

 are elevated in tone, scientific in spirit, and com- 

 mendably thorough. With us there is a trifle too 

 much of the chip-on-the-shoulder or of the atti- 

 tude that about dogs anything will do. A report 

 has just been issued by the Fish and Game Com- 

 mission of a western state. It is bulky and quite 

 fancifully illustrated. The chapter on setters and 

 pointers states sweepingly that a great majority 

 of dogs used for private shooting or entered in 

 field trials are pointers. The writer, on this 

 premise, concludes that pointers suit the United 

 States better than setters. Just as this book 

 reached me, the entries of the Nebraska and 

 Manitoba field trials were announced. These 

 two entry lists included most of the dogs which 



