THE SETTER. | 153 
that they constantly put up their birds out of distance, or, if they 
did get a point, that the game would rarely lie till we could get 
to it. The Russians, on the contrary, being much closer rangers, 
quartering their ground steadily—heads and tails up—and _pos- 
sessing perfection of nose, in extreme heat, wet, or cold, enabled us 
to bag double the head of game that mine did. Nor did they lose 
one solitary wounded bird; whereas, with my own dogs, I lost six 
brace the first two days of partridge-shooting, most of them in 
standing corn. 
“My old friend and patron having met with a severe accident 
while hunting last season, determined to go to Scotland for the 
next three years. Seeing that my dogs were well calculated for 
grouse-shooting, as they had been broken and shot to on the 
moors, and being aware of my anxiety to possess the breed of his 
Russians, he very kindly offered to exchange them for mine, with a 
promise that I would reserve a brace of Russian puppies for him. 
Although I had refused fifty guineas for my brace, I most gladly 
closed with this offer. Since then I have hunted them in company 
with several dogs of high character, but nothing that I have yet 
seen could equal them. If not taken out for six months, they are 
perfectly steady, which is a quality rarely to be met with. Every 
sportsman must know that the fewer dogs he can do his work 
with properly the better; for if they are in condition they cannot 
be too frequently hunted, and their tempers, style of working, &c., 
become more familiar to him. On this the whole comfort of 
shooting depends. Upon these grounds I contend that, for all 
kinds of shooting, there is nothing equal to the Russian or half- 
bred Russian setter in nose, sagacity, and every other necessary 
qualification that a dog ought to possess.” 
Since then, however, Mr. Lang lost the breed, and, I believe, for ' 
some reason or other, had also lost confidence in them. They are 
now very scarce in this country of pure blood, and even the cross 
with the English setter is seldom seen. 
The actual form of the Russian setter is almost entirely con- 
cealed by a long woolly coat, which is matted together in the most 
extraordinary manner, and which would lead to the supposition 
that he would be unable to stand heat as well as our curly. setters ; 
but, on the contrary, he bears it almost like a‘pointer. He has the 
