THE NEWFOUNDLAND. 



77 



certain that he would have selected for such 

 a picture a typical dog of the breed, and, 



two established varieties, the black and the 

 white and black. There are also bronze- 



secondly, because the picture shows, nearly coloured dogs, but they are rare and are not 



half a century prior to the discussion, a white favoured. It is stated, however, that pup- 



and black dog, typical in nearly every pies of that colour are generally the most 



respect, except colour, of the black New- promising in all other respects. 

 foundland. There is no appearance of cross- Newfoundlands figure very prominently 



MRS. W. A. LINDSAY'S CH. MILK BOY 



BY STEERSMAN LADY'S MAID. 



Photograph by A bernethy, Belfast. 



breeding in Landseer's dog ; on the con- 

 trary, he reveals all the characteristics of 

 a thoroughbred. Nearly seventy years ago, 

 therefore, the white and black variety may 

 be fairly considered to have been established, 

 and it is worthy of mention here that 

 " Idstone " quoted an article written in 1819 

 stating that back in the eighteenth century 

 Newfoundlands were large, rough-coated, 

 liver and white dogs. It is clear, also, that 

 in 1832 Newfoundlands in British North 

 America were of various colours. Addi- 

 tional evidence, too, is provided, in the fact 

 that when selecting the type of head for 

 their postage stamp the Government of 

 Newfoundland chose the Landseer dog. 

 Therefore, there are very strong argu- 

 ments against the claim that the true 

 variety is essentially black. 



However that may be, there are now 



in the numerous accounts of canine instinct, 

 devotion and sagacity, and whether or not 

 those accounts are always quite authentic, 

 they indicate how widespread is the belief 

 that dogs of this breed possess those qualities 

 in full. The Rev. J. S. Watson, in his book 

 on " The Reasoning Power in Animals," 

 said he was not inclined to assent to an 

 opinion that one species of dog has not 

 greater sagacity than another. He was 

 disposed to think that a greater portion of 

 strong natural sense was manifested in the 

 larger kinds of dogs such as the Newfound- 

 land. 



The Rev. F. O. Morris many years ago 

 wrote an account of a Newfoundland and a 

 Mastiff which frequently fought together, 

 and on one occasion, when fighting on a 

 pier, they both fell into the sea. The 

 Newfoundland was quickly out again, but, 



