THE POINTER. 189 
vidual families, almost ad infinitum ; whereas, as we have 
seen above, the setter, so far as can be ascertained by any 
investigation, is the natural, aboriginal, spaniel stock im-. 
proved by care and culture, but not by inter-breeding. 
The type of this dog is unquestionably, in the British 
isles, and the countries which have been thence supplied, 
the Spanish pointer; but how that variety of the genus 
arose, by what crossing it was produced, or when it was 
first known, is now beyond ascertaining. 
It was first introduced into England when the art of 
shooting on the wing began-to be general, replacing the 
old sport of netting birds, for which the mute spaniel, 
taught to set, since that time improved into the modern 
setter, had been used. Its erect position while in the act 
of pointing, and its lower and more careful style of rang- 
ing, as well as its superior steadiness, were the qualities 
which, on its first introduction, caused the preference to be 
given to it for open shooting; and such are, with justice, 
the superior excellencies still attributed to it, by those 
who prefer it to its rival, the setter. 
In form, structure and general appearance, the pointer 
would appear to be an intermediate link between the 
spaniel, the smooth-haired hound, and perhaps the fero- 
cious dog of the bull type—the structure of the head, tle 
cerebral development, and the olfactory apparatus clearly 
connecting him with the former species, his coat, his gencral 
shape, and his fine stern pointing to the gaze-hounds, and 
his heavy jowl, pendulous lips, broad chest, and crooked 
fore legs, assimilating him to the pugnacious varieties. 
The old Spanish pointer is now almost extinct in Eng- 
