12 Varieties of the Dog. 
be found. A moderately slow dog will always appear to 
have.a better nose than a very fast one, and will put up 
less game; but, if too slow, he will lose a great many 
points which are taken from him by his faster competitor. 
Hence it follows that there is a medium in point of speed 
which may be.possessed by either breed, and a selection 
need not be made on that account. The setter is, 
however, acknowledged to be more difficult to break than’ 
the pointer, and is apt to forget his lessons ; the pointer, 
on the other hand, rarely forgets under an intelligent master. 
Respecting the Irish Setter thereis still more difference 
of opinion as to the shade of colour than in regard to the 
Gordon. By one party it is asserted that the well-bred 
Irish setter must be of a deep pure blood-red, without the 
slightest approach to black or mahogany-colour on the 
back, ear, or stern. After the publication in the /ie/d of 
the article on this dog, in which this was laid down as the 
attribute of the breed, Mr. Hungerford opened the con- 
troversy by asserting that, according to his experience, 
‘they might be either red or red and white, followed by the 
late Mr. John Walker (the well-known judge at most of the 
recent dog shows), who raised the question as to the ob- 
jection to the black tinge, which was answered by Colonel 
Whyte in the negative, and by Mr. Henry Blake Knox as 
follows: “‘The coat should be rather coarse, for you want 
him for hard work and hardships; smooth or wavy, not 
curly ; hair of moderate length on the upper parts of the 
body; the foot-half tawny, the tip-half deep senna, ap- 
pearing as if stained with port wine (blood-red), but never 
showing black on the ears, back, head, or tail; the legs 
and under parts, deep or pale tawny; white should not 
appear anywhere except in the centre of the forehead and 
the centre of the breast. I breed without any white at 
all.” Captain Hutchinson objects to the black stain, and 
supports his opinion by adding some high authorities in- 
its favour. On the whole, therefore, it may be assumed 
that the weight of evidence is against the dark stain. In 
other respects Mr. Knox's description is so admirable 
that I quote it ¢ extenso.— The ears should be long, 
reaching at the end of the hair to nose, pendulous, and 
