20 The Sporting Dog 



of work and in more parts of the country. The 

 pointers are most popular in the Middle West, 

 where the country is open and the work is on 

 wheat stubble and similar ground. The setter is 

 a better water dog, and is the only bird dog suited 

 to a country where briers are thick. The pointer 

 suffers less from sandburs and is said to stand 

 the heat better, though I never could see any dif- 

 ference in this last respect. I am inclined to 

 think that out of an equal number of puppies one 

 could develop more good pointers than setters. 

 Pointers take to their work more readily, and in 

 the hands of an ordinary amateur are more easily 

 handled, though the rule is not universal. This 

 last quality, with the sandbur troubles of setters, 

 gives the pointer the lead in amateur hands 

 through the prairie states. 



The Irish setter can nearly always be made a 

 good retriever on land and water, and probably 

 stands rough weather better than any other shoot- 

 ing breed. The Gordon's rough weather qualities 

 are little inferior. The studbook figures show 

 that neither the Irish nor Gordon setter has quite 

 met the taste of American sportsmen. I shall 

 endeavor later to account for this fact. 



In the subsequent chapters in which the history 

 and the special qualities of these shooting breeds 

 are presented, it seems useful to describe briefly 

 the dogs which appear in present pedigrees and 



