NOTES 



It has been said by some authors, and I think by Mr. Colquhoun, in his 

 Moor and Loch, that the word " lievier," signifying a castrated deer, 

 has been derived from the French. Altliough we are indebted to the 

 French for many of our sporting terms, in this instance the word has an 

 entirely English source. The real word is " Aver " ; and in an old book 

 in the possession of the late Mr. Pyrke, of Dean Hall, in the Forest of 

 Dean, the title of which I forget, we found the line, " And thus a rugged 

 colt becomes a noble aver." On looking further we ascertained that an 

 " aver " signified a " cart-gelding." 



In the breednig of dogs there are two sorts of uses to which they are 

 put, in which perfection is all a chance. You are pretty sure, by an 

 attention to the sire and dam, to breed a good hound, a good greyhound, 

 a good pointer, a good spaniel, and a good terrier ; but take wliat choice 

 you please among the best dog and bitch retrievers, to breed a good one 

 is a matter of great uncertainty. One of the causes to which I attribute 

 this is, that generally the best retrievers are not thorough-bred dogs, and 

 if two half-bred dogs are bred from, the offspring is sure to deteriorate. The 

 same fact as to retrievers applies to fighting-dogs ; whatever the sire and 

 dam may be, no man, for that purpose can, with any approach to cer- 

 tainty, count upon the game or punishing capabilities of the whelps. 

 The cross for a retriever that I like best, is that between the Newfound- 

 land dog and tlie setter. 



At one time I paid great attention to the breed of gaze or deer grey- 

 hounds, and, certainly, by crosses at different times, I had in my possession 

 the largest and fastest dogs I ever saw in my life. Smoker was one of 

 them ; his mother I know was the common English greyhound, but as to 

 his sire, the farmer who bred him said, " he was some sort of a large 

 foreign dog, but he could not tell me what." Smoker, crossed with a 

 greyhound called Vagrant, given to me by Mr. Thorpe, of Chippenham, 

 near Newmarket, continued much of his speed and power, but not his 

 commanding size. I have also crossed the English greyhound with the 



