GENERAL REMARKS ON SETTERS. 67 



a considerable local reputation; and I think I may quote the opinion of that 

 excellent sportsman, the present Rector of Wadhurst, who repeatedly shot over 

 her in my company, that no better single-handed setter was ever seen. She had 

 merry " tail action " without being overdone, which indeed her great pace forbade ; 

 and I was anxious to breed from her, for which purpose I put her for three 

 successive years to the late Mr. John Clifton's Bacchus, of great renown in 

 Worcestershire, nineteen puppies altogether being reared. Of these about half 

 had the "tail action" of the mother, while the remainder were without it ; and 

 in every case, without a single exception, the " trailers " had no nose whatever, or a 

 very bad one, while the "lively" ones possessed excellent scenting powers, and were 

 indeed nearly all first class dogs. This drew my attention to the two kinds of 

 flag carriage, and since then I have almost always seen the quiet trail accompanied 

 by a nose of equal dulness. In the pointer I have not found the same remark 

 apply, having both seen and myself possessed dogs of that breed with good noses 

 unaccompanied by " tail action" in a proportion fully equal to one-half, if not more, 

 and I have consequently abandoned all idea of connecting the one with the other 

 in the pointer. In the setter, however, I have still thought, from careful observation, 

 that my original fancy held good, and when I saw Sir R. Garth's Grouse and May, 

 produced at Stafford as pure Laveracks, on trial for the first time in public, 

 the absence of all "tail action" and their low carriage of the head prejudiced me 

 against the breed, which their subsequent bad performance confirmed. Even the 

 brilliant pace and style of Countess and Nellie did not entirely dissipate this 

 original bias ; for, though I am not induced to believe that this strain is, on the 

 average, possessed of absolutely bad noses, yet I should not say that they come 

 up to the level of the best old English setter strains, or to the Gordons or Irish. 

 Indeed, I consider this their weak point. Countess, Nellie, and Daisy could find 

 game well enough with a good scent, but they were comparatively useless with a 

 bad one. In addition to Ranger, whose nose in undeniably good, Dash II., a 

 three-quarter Laverack, who has recently won all before him at Horseheath, may 

 be adduced as a notable exception to the above conclusion ; but beyond these I 

 cannot recollect any setter who has appeared in public without tail action possessed 

 of an unexceptionably good nose. Hence rightly or wrongly, I have still regarded 

 these two features as of considerable importance ; and, knowing' them to be 

 strongly developed in the spaniel, I conclude that they are transmitted to his 

 descendant the setter, and, as such, that they are to be regarded as his natural 

 attributes. 



The greater frequency of a good nose without "tail action" in the pointer 

 than in the setter, supposing it to exist, may, I think, be explained in the fol- 

 lowing way. Both the original pointer and the spaniel undoubtedly always 

 possessed "tail action," which has probably been lost in many examples of 

 each breed by crossing with the hound. Now, the foxhound chiefly tries for 

 the foot scent, and so does the spaniel ; while the peculiarity of the true pointer 

 is that he carries his head high in the air, trying for the body scent, in which 

 lie is imitated by the best setter strains. As a consequence, according to my 



