round the neck; the thighs feathered but not too heavily.  In the short-coated variety, the coat should be dense, hard, flat, and short, slightly feathered on thighs and tail.  COLOUR AND MARKINGS—­The colour should be red, orange, various shades of brindle (the richer colour the better), or white with patches on body of one of the above named colours.  The markings should be as follows; white muzzle, white blaze up face, white collar round neck; white chest, forelegs, feet, and end of tail; black shadings on face and ears.  If the blaze be wide and runs through to the collar, a spot of the body colour on the top of the head is desirable.

The weight of a dog should be from 170 lbs. to 210 lbs.; of a bitch 160 lbs. to 190 lbs.

* * * * *

During the past twenty-five years St. Bernards have been bred in this country very much taller and heavier than they were in the days of Tell, Hope, Moltke, Monk, Hector, and Othman.  Not one of these measured over 32 inches in height, or scaled over 180 lbs., but the increased height and greater weight of the more modern production have been obtained by forcing them as puppies and by fattening them to such an extent that they have been injured in constitution, and in many cases converted into cripples behind.  The prizewinning rough-coated St. Bernard, as he is seen to-day is a purely manufactured animal, handsome in appearance certainly, but so cumbersome that he is scarcely able to raise a trot, let alone do any tracking in the snow.  Usefulness, however, is not a consideration with breeders, who have reared the dog to meet the exigencies of the show ring.  There is still much left to be desired, and there is room for considerable improvement, as only a few of the more modern dogs of the breed approach the standard drawn up by the Clubs that are interested in their welfare.

CHAPTER V

THE NEWFOUNDLAND

The dogs which take their name from the island of Newfoundland appeal to all lovers of animals, romance, and beauty.  A Newfoundland formed the subject of perhaps the most popular picture painted by Sir Edwin Landseer; a monument was erected by Byron over the grave of his Newfoundland in proximity to the place where the poet himself hoped to be buried, at Newstead Abbey, and the inscription on his monument contains the lines so frequently quoted: 

  “But the poor dog in life the firmest friend,
   The first to welcome, foremost to defend,
   Whose honest heart is still his master’s own,
   Who labours, fights, lives, breathes for him alone.

   To mark a friend’s remains these stones arise: 
   I never knew but one, and here he lies.”