urest colors are liver and white, fawn and white, and yellow and
white. These dogs are slow and sure, remarkably close hunters, and
obedient; just the things for cock shooting here. Too much cannot be said
in their favor. They are easily taught to retrieve.

RETRIEVER.

A Retriever is a cross breed dog. There is no true type of them. Every
person has a peculiar fancy regarding them. The great object is to have
them tolerably small, compatible with endurance. The best I have seen were
of a cross between the Labrador and water spaniel, or the pure Labrador
dog.

BEAGLES.

In some parts of the States Beagles are used, and it may be as well to
point out the characteristics of them. First, then, a beagle ought not to
exceed fourteen inches in height; its head ought to be long and fine; its
ears long, fine also, beautifully round, thin, and pendulous, rather far
set back; body not too long; chest broad and deep; loins broad at top, but
narrow downwards; legs strong, but short; feet small and close; hair short
and close; tails curved upwards and tapering, but not too fine. There is
also another sort of beagles, wire-haired, flew-jawed, heavy hung,
deep-mouthed. They are very true hunters, seldom leaving the trail till
dead, or run to ground.

BREEDING.

It is needless to say that at certain indefinite periods of the year a
bitch comes into use, as the term is--generally twice a year, and still
more generally speaking, during the time you most require her services,
that is, April and September, spring snipe and grouse shooting, in
consequence of which you must either sacrifice your pups or your sport.
Now I am aware that in the States, for this reason, a bitch is seldom
kept. For my part, I do not object to them, for from experience I can so
regulate their failings as to prevent their family cares from interfering
with their hunting. The knowledge of this enables me to have my pups when
I want them, to get the cover of a dog I fancy, when a strange one comes
my way also. The best time, then, to put the bitch to the dog is early in
January. By this means you have your pups ready to wean by the middle of
April. They have all summer to grow in, get strong, and large, and are fit
to break in October on snipe first, and then quail, finishing off on snipe
the following spring. After this litter, the bitch probably comes into use
again in the end of July or in August. Young ones are not so fond of it as