The sports of the world, with illustrations from drawings and photographs . to Pliny, theinhabitants of Gaul kept their packs of hounds,but the pointer came in vogue only with falconry,and nobody has been able satisfactorily to estab-lish the period at which that sport was introducedinto France. That the spaniel was, how-ever, known in France in the seventhcentury the capitulary laws of KingDagobert plainly show. The pointermay, therefore, be regarded as a pro-duct of the Middle Ages. It must haveproved an invaluable ally to the trainedfalcon, since not only is that bird unableto strike down s
The sports of the world, with illustrations from drawings and photographs . to Pliny, theinhabitants of Gaul kept their packs of hounds,but the pointer came in vogue only with falconry,and nobody has been able satisfactorily to estab-lish the period at which that sport was introducedinto France. That the spaniel was, how-ever, known in France in the seventhcentury the capitulary laws of KingDagobert plainly show. The pointermay, therefore, be regarded as a pro-duct of the Middle Ages. It must haveproved an invaluable ally to the trainedfalcon, since not only is that bird unableto strike down so swift a bird as thepartridge unless the latter is flushed closeto it, but in those times cultivated landswere so few and far between that thebirds must have been difficult to find atall. We can, therefore, without difficultyappreciate an extract from a survivingletter written by Francois de Guise tothe Constable de Montmorencv :— Isend you a young braque to help vourfalcon find the partridges. It is difficult to imagine how mentaught the art of pointing to dogs, with. OLD FRENCH BRAQUE. forbidden to follow it. When he has reached thisstage of obedience, he can be taught to point, andthen his education is complete, for he knows thelanguage of the chase. Such an animal will showan amazing docility, sagacity, affection, and othervaluable qualities. We are also told that in orderto prevent the dog from running in on the game
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