224 



THE POINTER. 



There are two breeds of the Pointer, the modern English Pointer, and the Spanish 

 Pointer. The latter of these Dogs is now seldom used in the field, as it is too slow and 

 heavily built an animal for the present fast style of sporting, which makes the Dogs do all the 

 ranging, and leaves to their master but a comparatively small amount of distance to pass over. 

 The nose of this Dog is peculiarly delicate, as may be inferred from its exceedingly wide 

 muzzle, and for those sportsmen who cannot walk fast or far, it is an useful assistant. 



As may be seen from the engraving, the modern English Pointer is a very different animal, 

 built on a much lighter model, and altogether with a more bold and dashing air about it. 

 While it possesses a sufficiently wide muzzle to permit the development of the olfactory 





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POINTER.- Canis familiars ai-icularvus. 



nerves, its limbs are so light and wiry that it can match almost any Dog in speed. Indeed, 

 some of these animals are known to equal a slow greyhound in point of swiftness. 



This quality is specially useful, because it permits the sportsman to walk forward, at a 

 moderate pace, while his Dogs are beating over the field to his right and left, The sagacious 

 animals are so obedient to the voice and gesture of their master, and are so well trained to act 

 with each other, that at a wave of the hand they will separate, one going to the right and the 

 other to the left, and so traverse the entire field in a series of "tacks," to speak nautically, 

 crossing each other regularly in front of the sportsman as he walks forward. 



When either of them scents a bird, he stops suddenly, arresting even his foot as it is 

 raised in the air, his head thrust forward, his body and limbs fixed, and his tail stretched 

 straight out behind him. This attitude is termed a "point,''' and on account of this peculiar 

 mode of indicating game, the animal is termed the "Pointer." The Dogs are so trained that 

 when one of them comes to a point he is backed by his companion, so as to avoid the disturb- 

 ance of more game than is necessary for the purpose of the sportsman. 



It is a matter of some difficulty to teach their lesson rightly, for the Dogs are quite as 

 liable to error through their over-anxiety to please their master as through sluggishness or 

 carelessness. Such Dogs are very provoking in the field, for they will come to a point at 

 almost every strange odor that crosses their nostrils, and so will stand at pigs, sparrows, cats, 



