i 4 2 DOMESTICATED DOGS. 



VI.— SETTERS (ENGLISH, IRISH, SCOTCH, WELSH, AND 

 RUSSIAN). 



That the setter is a spaniel taught by art to point his game 

 is universally admitted, and Daniel in his " Rural Sports " gives a 

 copy of a bond signed by John Harris, on October 7, 1485, in 

 which he covenants to keep for six months and break a certain 

 spaniel to " set partridges, pheasants, and other game, in consi- 

 deration of ten shillings of lawful English money." Thus it is 

 certain that four hundred years ago the setting spaniel existed in 

 this country, and most probably he was nearly identical with our 

 modern setter, though probably not so fast. There is reason to 

 believe that, until the gun was used to shoot game flying, the 

 setting spaniel was preferred to the pointer, because from his 

 crouching attitude the net could be drawn over him more easily. 

 On the invention, however, of the flint lock, it was found that 

 the attitude of the pointer rendered him more visible to his master, 

 and as the net was no longer used by sportsmen, the Spanish 

 pointer was imported, and used in preference to the native setting 

 spaniel. In course of time, either by crossing or careful breeding, 

 the setter assumed the pointer's standing position, and this has 

 now become as common with the one breed as with the other. 



There is a much greater variety among setters than among 

 pointers, and not only has each division of the United Kingdom 

 its peculiar breed of them, but there is also a Eussian strain in 

 this country, celebrated for nose and steadiness, but too woolly 

 coated for our early autumn work. As a rule, the setter is faster 

 than the pointer, but not so steady, frequently requiring a day or 

 two's work before he can be relied on. Usually he will not work 

 long without water, and many breeds are quite useless on land 

 where water is out of reach. From his hairy feet he stands the 



