330 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
bred as south-country dogs, and therefore more calculated for 
rough work. Many are crossed with the Foxhound, which 
gives them speed and courage as well as hardness of foot; but 
the produce of the first cross is generally too high-mettled to be 
managed with ease, being difficult to break from running Hares, 
or to down -charge ; and, for the most part, very hard-mouthed. 
You may reckon on six days out of every twelve being rainy 
in the Highlands; the wet, and injuries from burnt heather, 
&c., cause the Pointer soon to become foot-sore, particularly 
between the toes, as he has no hair to protect his feet, like the 
Setter. High-bred Pointers are also delicate in their appetites, 
and will not eat the Scotch meal at first. Gentlemen should 
have plenty of greaves sent to their shooting quarters to mix 
with it, as meat can seldom be had in the remote Grouse coun¬ 
tries. They should give orders that their dogs should be fed 
immediately on their return from the hills, and their feet care¬ 
fully washed with salt and water : indeed, if gentlemen saw to 
those things themselves, they would find their account in it, 
observing that such dogs as would not feed well were never 
taken out the following day. ‘ A stitch in time saves nine,’ is 
a good wholesome maxim. 
“ ‘ I now proceed to speak of the Setter. The Irish Setters 
are very beautiful both in and out of the field ; but so hot-head¬ 
ed, that unless always at work, and kept under very strict 
discipline, they constantly spoil sport for the first hour, frequent¬ 
ly the best in the whole day. I have shot to many, and found 
them all pretty much alike. I had one, the history of whose bad 
and good qualities would fill half-a-dozen pages. As long as I 
kept him to regular hard work, a better never entered a field : 
I refused forty guineas for him, and shot him a month afterwards 
for his bad deeds. I bred from him, out of an English Setter 
bitch, and some of the produce turned out very good; one of 
them I shot to myself for eight seasons : my reasons for parting 
with him I will presently explain. Unless to throw more dash 
into my kennel, I should never be tempted again to become 
master of an Irish Setter. Frequently, Partridges are driven 
