THE sportsman's vade mecum. 25 



The cross, or, at all events, the next remove from it, will be 

 just as you wish. Any peculiarity may be made in-herent 

 in a breed by sedulously cultivating that peculiarity. Avoid 

 above all things breeding in and in brother and sister, 

 mother and son, father and daughter — all bad, but the first 

 far worse than either of the others, since the blood of each is 

 the same. The other two are only half so. To perfect form 

 should be added high ranging qualities, high courage, great 

 docility, keen nose, and great endurance. That is the acme 

 of breeding. A few judicious crosses will enable you to 

 acquire it for your kennel. To the inattention and careless- 

 ness of sportsmen to these points are to be attributed the 

 innumerable curs we nowadays see in comparison to well 

 bred dogs. Anything that will find a bird will do. Far 

 otherwise, to my mind. " Nothing is worth doing at all if it 

 is not to be well done," and I would as soon pot a bevy of 

 quail on the ground, as think of following an ill bred, ill 

 broken, obstinate cur. It may perhaps be as well to state, 

 that when I spoke of " crosses," I had not the slightest inten- 

 tion of recommending a cross of pointer and setter or bull 

 dog. Far otherwise. Let each breed be distinct, but culti- 

 vate a " cross," be they pointer or spaniel, from another 

 kennel of another breed of the same class of dogs. 



With regard to setters, a Httle separate talk is necessary, 

 for we have three sorts, English, Irish, and Russian. The 

 cross of English and Irish may and does often benefit both 

 races. So also does the Russian, but I would be extremely 

 careful how I put him to one or the other. Extreme cases 

 ma}' and do justify the admixture, but the old blood ought 



