Varieties of the Dog. 47 
pointers or setters, the retriever is an indispensable ac- 
companiment to every shooter who indulges in this kind 
of sport. There is no distinct breed recognized, though 
the cross of the spaniel or setter with the small New- 
foundland has become now quite as much so as the 
Wavy-coated Ketriever, 
modern Leicester or Southdown sheep. Indeed, the re- 
currence to this cross is seldom employed in breeding 
retrievers, males and females of that strain being chosen 
on each side. I have a great fancy that the modern 
rough St. Bernard, of which the Rev. J. C. Macdona has 
some magnificent specimens, will, if crossed with good 
setter blood, produce an excellent result, and I intended 
to try the experiment, that gentleman having kindly given 
me a daughter of his celebrated Tell and Hedwig for the 
