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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATION3.

English, Spanish, Russian and French. Youatt mentions another variety, the Portuguese, of which animal he makes no flattering comments, but on the contrary condemns it, as being defective in the feet, crooked-legged, quarrelsome, lazy, and withal addicted to chasing hares.

THE SPANISH POINTER-originally from the country whose name he bears, although but little thought of at present, at one time was in high repute for his endurance, steadiness in the field, and excellent powers of scent. Notwithstanding these valuable traits of character, owing to his large, heavy, and ill-formed person, together with a bad disposition and voracious appetite, he soon fell into discredit; not, however, before a cross was sprung between him and the Fox-Hound, which, combining speed and strength with his scenting powers, produced an animal equal with the English, if not superior.

One of these dogs, Blain tells us," belonging to Colonel Thornton, was sold for one hundred and sixty pounds of champagne and burgundy, a hogshead of claret, a valuable gun, and a Pointer." This circumstance will give us some idea of his value. THE RUSSIAN POINTER is pronounced a mongrel, and as seldom exhibiting any of the characteristics that we expect in a good dog. He is described as rough-coated, ill-tempered, ugly and stupid. The writer fears that this breed is quite common in this country, judging from some of the animals that are taken into the field as Pointers.

This dog is recommended as a good companion for the pothunter, as they are never particular as to the game they go for, but will hunt from an elephant of the field down to the flea of the blanket."

THE FRENCH VARIETY, as described by English authors, is much smaller than either of the above breeds, and although possessed of great beauty, acute scent, and other qualifications that would render him valuable in their eyes, still is considered much inferior, not being able to cope with their dogs in hunting, owing to a want of physical power of endurance.

Youatt states "that he is distinguished by a furrow in his nose, which materially interferes with his acuteness of smell." These accounts do not agree with the French writers, to whom

it is very true the English should not look for any particular information respecting hunting or shooting. Nevertheless, all must admit that they are quite as capable of describing their particular breeds of animals as other nations, and in fact we might go farther, and say that they are much more competent to the task than English writers, judging from their extensive knowledge in comparative anatomy, and their long array of celebrated writers on natural history, the Cuviers, Buffon, &c.

Baudrillart, in his "Dictionnaire des Chasses" describes the French Pointer as having endurance and great industry, and of their being used oftentimes solely for "la grande chasse." In the atlas of plates accompanying this interesting work will be found two distinct and extremely correct drawings of the English Pointer, and also an engraving of the French variety, which latter certainly is represented as being equally if not more muscular and hardy than the English.

As for the furrow in the nose, as mentioned by Youatt, no reference is made to it in connection with this species, and in the engraving the nose is square. But in describing another variety, known in France as coming from Spain, Baudrillart states that they are vulgarly called a'deux nez, parceque ce chien a les narines séparées par une gouttiere."

As for Mr. Youatt's declaration in reference to the furrow in the nose "materially interfering with the acuteness of smell,” I cannot understand how or on what principle of reasoning, this slight deviation from nature should affect the properties of the olfactory apparatus. That these furrow-nosed dogs are inferior to the English in scenting powers, as stated by Mr. Youatt, we do not question; but that their deficiency depends upon this furrow, remains to be proven.

This furrow in the nose is merely a deformity, and, like many others in various breeds of animals, was solely the result of accident in the first place—and as we often see, even in the human species, the deformities and infirmities of our ancestors entailed upon their progeny, in like manner has this "cut in the nose” been so extensively inherited by succeeding generations, that it has now become a distinctive mark of a whole class of dogs.

THE FRENCH POINTER, as known in this country, is a beautiful,

well-shaped, compact, square-nosed dog; not so long or high as the English, but extremely well built, full chested, large head, pendant ears, projecting eyes, large feet, and thickish tail.

His colour is seldom white, but generally intermingled with small spots of brown or chocolate over the body, and more particularly over the head and ears. Such a dog is in the possession of the writer, who knows nothing of his ancestry, but is convinced from those he saw in France, that they must have been imported from that country.

THE ENGLISH POINTER will now claim more particularly our attention. It is quite useless to go into a general description of an animal of whom we have already said much, and with whom we are all familiar. But will endeavour to mention the most striking points of the species, which marks can be referred to as guides in the purchase of a dog.

It is a difficult matter to put on paper, in a manner satisfactory either to the reader or writer, the peculiarities of any animal, whereby he may be judged pure or mixed. However, there are generally some few points in each species, that can be selected as proofs of their genuineness and ability to perform certain actions peculiar to the race.

But after all, more reliance must be placed upon the good faith of the seller, or the previous knowledge of the Strain from which the purchaser selects-and what is better than either, from actual observation in the field-all of which precautions may, nevertheless, prove abortive, and our dog be worthless,-as will be proven by the following recital. A friend of the writer's, while in England, being desirous to possess a brace of fine pointers to send home, at length, after much trouble and loss of time, decided upon a purchase, based upon the style, action and hunting qualifications of the dogs, as witnessed in the field, under the supervision of one of the "Fancy," a friend of the owner, a retired sportsman, who was compelled by force of circumstances to part with these favourite animals.

The dogs quartered their ground well, found the birds easily, pointed them staunchly, never dared to flush, and withal were wonderfully obedient to every call and gesture. However, as this

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