DOGS 487 
that it was implanted by education. This is sustained 
by the admitted fact that while the setter has infinitely 
more pointing instinct than has the spaniel, he in turn 
has much less than has the pointer. It may be ob- 
jected that the setter does not show any physical re- 
semblance to the pointer. As a matter of fact, he 
shows a great deal, the chief distinction being in the 
coat. A cross of setter and pointer—the dropper— 
may appear to be pure setter or pointer. By selection, 
the physical attributes of the pointer could soon be 
bred out, while the instinct to point would be added 
to the many others which the two breeds, spaniel and 
pointer, possessed in common. 
As before remarked, the act of pointing is not the 
exclusive attribute of pointers and setters. The point 
seems to be a necessary factor in the successful pursuit 
of birds, and is many times developed by the dog from 
observation, from a realization of its helpfulness in 
effecting a capture. That a dog will change his meth- 
ods of pursuit to meet its conditions is well shown by 
the differences of method employed in following the 
trail of a rabbit and that of birds. In the one case he 
gives tongue vociferously, in the other he is cautious 
and silent. While the point no doubt has its origin 
in an instinctive impulse, as, indeed, the impulse to 
hunt is instinctive, a high degree of intelligence in 
its practical application is an essential of its useful- 
ness to man. 
The modern setter, as owned by the majority of 
sportsmen in the United States, is the Llewellin 
