He may even answer the purpose of a springer for pheasants and woodcocks, and may be valuable in recovering a wounded bird. His scent may frequently be superior to that of the pointer, and sufficiently accurate to distinguish, better than the pointer, when the game is sprung; but the steadiness and obedience of the pointer will generally give him the preference, especially in a fair and tolerably smooth country. At the beginning of a season, and until the weather is hot, the pointer will have a decided advantage. [We beg leave to finish this history of the setter by referring to our essay on this dog, published in vol. xv, No. 47, of the "New York Spirit of the Times", or as lately transferred to the pages of an interesting and valuable sporting work, about being published by our esteemed friend, Wm. A. Porter, and from which we now abstract our remarks upon THE MERITS OF THE SETTER COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE POINTER. It cannot for a moment be doubted that the setter has superior advantages to the pointer, for hunting over our uncleared country, although the pointer has many qualities that recommend him to the sportsman, that the setter does not possess. In the first place, the extreme hardiness and swiftness of foot, natural to the setter, enables him to get over much more ground than the pointer, in the same space of time. Their feet also, being more hard and firm, are not so liable to become sore from contact with our frozen ground. The ball pads being well protected by the spaniel toe-tufts, are less likely to be wounded by the thorns and burs with which our woods are crowded during the winter season. His natural enthusiasm for hunting, coupled with his superior physical powers, enables him to stand much more work than the pointer, and oftentimes he appears quite fresh upon a long continued hunt, when the other will be found drooping and inattentive. The long, thick fur of the setter, enables him to wend his way through briary thickets without injury to himself, when a similar attempt on the part of a pointer, would result in his ears, tail, and body being lacerated and streaming with blood. On the other hand, the pointer is superior to the setter in retaining his acquired powers for hunting, and not being naturally enthusiastic in pursuit of game, he is more easily broken and kept in proper subjection. The setter frequently requires a partial rebreaking at the commencement of each season, in his younger days, owing to the natural eagerness with which he resumes the sport. The necessity of this, however, diminishes with age, as the character and habits of the dog become more settled, and then we may take them into the field, with a perfect assurance of their behaving quite as well on the first hunt of the season, as the stanchest pointer would.