instructions of the master; and an amount of obedience which will be required to prevent his venturing to break out, when game is before him. All these are doubtless found in the retriever, but they are coupled with a large heavy frame, requiring a considerable amount of food to keep it, and space in the dogcart when he is to be conveyed from place to place. Hence, if a smaller dog can be found to do the work equally well, he should be preferred; and, as I think he can, I shall describe both.

The large black retriever is known by his resemblance to the small Newfoundland, and the Irish water spaniel, or setter, between which two he is bred, and the forms of which he partakes of in nearly equal proportions, according to the cross. Hence the modern retriever is distinguished as either the curly-coated or wavy-coated, separate classes being made for them at most of our shows, and sometimes a third depending on colour alone.

heavy

The wavy-coated retriever has a head like that of a setter, but with shorter ears, less clothed with hair. The body is altogether larger and heavier, the limbs stronger, and the feet less compact, while the loin is much more loose, and the gait more or less resembling in its peculiarities that of the Newfoundland. The colour is almost always black, with very little white; indeed, most people would reject a retriever of this kind, if accidentally of any other colour. The coat is slightly wavy, but not very long or curly; and the legs are not much feathered. The height is usually about 23 or 24 inches, sometimes slightly more or less. This dog can readily be made to set and back; and he will also hunt as well as a setter, but slowly, and lasting for a short time only.

The curly-coated retriever is distinguished by having the whole body covered with short crisp curls like those of the Irish water spaniel. The head is quite free from these, a well-marked line being apparent just behind the ears. Like the wavy-coated dog he should have a long deep jaw, and with the exception of the coat the two breeds resemble each other closely. The curlycoated dog is black or deep liver colour, without white.

The terrier cross is either with the beagle or the pointer, the former being that which I have chiefly used with advantage, and the latter being recommended by Mr. Colquhoun in his “Lochs and Moors." He gives a portrait of one used by himself, which he says was excellent in all respects; and, from so good a sportsman, the recommendation is deserving of all credit. This dog was about 22 inches high, with a little of the rough coat of the Scotch terrier, combined with the head and general shape of the pointer. The sort I have used is, I believe, descended from the smooth white English terrier and the true old beagle; the nose and style of hunting proclaiming the hound descent, and the voice and appearance showing the preponderance of the terrier cross. These dogs are small, scarcely ever exceeding 10 lbs. in weight, and with difficulty lifting a hare, so that they are not qualified to retrieve "fur" any great distance. They must, therefore, be followed when either a hare or pheasant is sought to be recovered. They are mute in "questing," and very quiet in their movements, readily keeping at heel, and backing the pointers steadily while they are "down charge," for as long a time as may be required; and when they go to their game they

make no noise, as is too often done by the regular retriever. They do not carry so well as the larger dog, but in all other respects they are his equal, or perhaps superior; and from their small size they are admissible to the house, and being constant companions are more easily kept under command; besides which, they live on the scraps of the house, while the large retriever must be kept tied up at the keeper's, and costs a considerable sum to pay for his food.

THE BULL-TERRIER.

Many of our smooth terriers are slightly crossed with the bulldog, in order to give courage to bear the bites of the vermin which they are meant to attack. When thus bred, the terrier shows no evidence of pain, even though half a dozen rats are hanging on to his lips, which are extremely tender parts of the body, and where the bite of a mouse even will make a badly bred dog yell with pain. In fact, for all the purposes to which a terrier can be applied, the half or quarter cross with the bull, commonly known as the "bull-terrier or "half-bred dog," is of more value than either of the purely bred progenitors. Such a dog, however, to be useful, must be more than half terrier, or he will be too heavy and slow, too much under-jawed to hold well with his teeth, and too little under command to obey the orders of his master. Sometimes the result of the second cross,

which is only one quarter bull, shows a great deal of the shape peculiar to that side; and it is not till the third or fourth cross that the terrier shape comes out predominant: but this is all a matter of chance, and the exact reverse may just as probably hap

pen, if the terrier was quite free from the stain of the bull, which is seldom the case; and this may account for the great predominance of that side in most cases, as we shall see in investigating the subject of breeding for the kennel in the next Book. The field fox-terrier, used for bolting the fox when gone to ground, was of

this breed. So also is the fighting-dog par excellence, and, indeed, there is scarcely any task to which a dog of his size may be set that he will not execute as well as, or better than, most others. He will learn tricks with the poodle, fetch and carry with the Newfoundland-take water with that dog, though his coat will not suffer him to remain in so long,-hunt with the spaniel, and fight "till all's blue." For thorough gameness, united with obedience, good temper, and intelligence, he surpasses any breed in existence.

The points of the bull-terrier vary greatly in accordance with the degree of each in the specimen examined. There should not be either the projection of the under jaw, or the crooked fore legs, or the small and weak hind quarters; and until these are lost, or nearly so, the crossing should be continued on the terrier side. The perfect bull-terrier may, therefore, be defined as the terrier with as much bull as can be combined with the absence of the above points, and showing the full head (not of course equal to that of the bull), the strong jaw, the well-developed chest, powerful shoulders, and thin fine tail of the bull-dog, accompanied by the light neck, active frame, strong loin, and fuller proportions of the hind quarter of the terrier. A dog of this kind should be capable of a fast pace, and will stand any moderate amount of road work. The height varies from 10 inches to 16, or even 20. Colour most admired white, either pure or patched with black, blue, red, fawn, or brindle. Sometimes also black and tan, or selfcoloured red.