FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 265 
-would wreak his vengeance on this poacher among the game, 
is not satisfied until he has killed half the covey with the 
murderous gun, or caught the whole brood in a trap, and 
wrung off their necks in triumph. 
Condemn not the fox too hastily; he has a more strikingly 
carnivorous tooth than yourself, indicating the kind of food 
he is required to seek; he takes no wanton pleasure in destroy- 
ing the bird; he exhibits to his companions no trophies of his 
skill, and is contented with a meal; whilst you are not satisfied 
when your capacious bird-bag is filled. 
This anecdote is very curious and interesting for several 
reasons. In the first place, it exhibits the fox in a new cha- 
racter of higher intelligence, than he has credit for possessing, 
—and in the next, it goes far towards confirming the old 
Spanish legend, with regard to the pointer dog. This repre- 
sents the pointer as a made variety, and not an original race. 
The legend represents that a Spanish monk, first observed, 
in the wild dog of Andalusia, the trick of pausing before the 
spring upon its prey. As this pause was longer than in any 
other animal, the idea was at once suggested, that by train- 
ing, this habit might be made useful. He accordingly tamed 
a number of these dogs, and finding them somewhat deficient 
in eize, docility and scent, crossed them upon the nobler spe- 
cies of hound, and hence the pointer was derived. 
T have always been inclined to regard this remarkable story 
as giving somewhere near the true origin of the pointer, and 
think it most likely that the wild dog mentioned, was a tran- 
sition species between the wolf and fox. But apart from 
these conjectures, this incident illustrates from an entirely 
new point of view, the predatory habits of the species. 
In the older States, as all other game has been nearly ex- 
terminated, these nine-lived creatures seem only to have 
become more abundant, more sagacious and more popular. 
Spencer, in his “ ‘Shepherd’s Callender,” very clearly inti 
mates that this is not the first time in the history of men 
