The Zoologist— Makcii, 1870. 2035 



however short, of this noble and faithful animal — not that I incline to 

 the belief ihat the breed is indigenous to the island, or that its 

 introduction, comparatively speaking, was at a very early date, for I 

 could not learn on the island from the settlers, or elsewhere, that the 

 now extinct aborigines possessed this or any other breed of dogs. 

 After the many large, high-couraged dogs of this breed which one so 

 ol"ten sees in England, to say that I was disappointed with those I saw 

 daily around me in Newfoundland would convey but a sorry idea of 

 my feelings on the subject. The well-known and intelligent-looking 

 head may be traced in one and all, and perhaps the form of the tail 

 has not materially altered, but in size and colour every variety 

 peculiar to dogs in general seemed equally prevalent on the island, if 

 I except pure white and black and white; of these two varieties I saw 

 only one of each. The most " fashionable " colour seemed to be a light, 

 or reddish, fawn, which I was told was the most approved colour for 

 gunning purposes, being best for " toling" geese and ducks, and the 

 least easily seen by deer and foxes in the open brown marshes. 

 Although I perfectly agree with most modern judges as to the most 

 handsome variety — viz.i all black with the exception of a small white 

 star on the breast or chest — I am by no means convinced that this is 

 the original animal in all its purity, in fact; the settlers seem pretty 

 well all agreed in saying the old breed consisted of a dog about 

 twenty-five or twenty-six inches high, with black ticked body, gray 

 muzzle, and gray or white-stockinged legs, with " dew-claws" behind. 

 However this may be, I can fully testify that the only dog of this 

 description 1 met with was one of the very best I ever saw, and yet 

 his owner told ine that he had never broken him; and certainly there 

 was one peculiarity about him, for, whereas every other dog at the 

 settlement — and their name was legion — would follow me any distance, 

 this one would only do so from house to house, notwithstanding all 

 my inducements by acts of kindness and the scoldings and threaten- 

 ings of the owner. Such a companion would have proved invaluable. 

 To see him dive and raise a seal weighing some four hundred-weight, 

 and then drag him to the shore, was a sight often witnessed with 

 pleasure, and yet the same dog would retrieve geese and ducks' eggs 

 and very small species of Tringae, without breaking or " counting." 

 But it grieved me much to see that the spirits of these noble dogs seem 

 there to be entirely broken. Often have I after nightfall, and afier the 

 inmates have retired for the night, entered souie of the houses, and in 

 the dark trod on or stumbled over a dog, which had hitherto been a 



