The Brach hounds.—­To-day we reserve the name of brachs for all pointers with short hair.  The type of the old brach still exists in Italy, Spain, the south of France and in Germany.  It is characterized by its large size, its robust form, its large head, its long, flat ears, its square muzzle separated from the forehead by a deep depression, its large nose, often double (that is to say, with nostrils separated by a deep vertical groove), its pendent lips, its thick neck, its long and strong paws provided with dew claws, both on the fore and the hind feet, and its short hair, which is usually white and marked with brown or orange-yellow spots.  The old brach breed has been modified by the breeders of different countries, either by hygiene or by crossing with ordinary dogs, according to the manner of hunting, according to taste, and even according to fashion.  Thus in England, where “time is money” reigns in every thing and where they like to hunt quickly and not leisurely, the brach has been rendered lighter and swifter of foot and has become the pointer.  In France, while it has lost a little in size and weight, it has preserved its moderate gait and has continued to hunt near its master, “under the gun,” as they say.  The same is the case in Spain, Italy and Germany even.  In France there are several varieties or sub-breeds of brach hounds.  The old French brach, which is nothing more than the old type, preserved especially in the south, where it is called the Charles the Tenth brach, is about twenty-four inches in height, and has a white and a maroon coat, which is somewhat coarse.  It often has a cleft nose and dew-claws on all the feet.  The brach of the south scarcely differs from the preceding except in color.  Its coat has a white ground covered with pale orange blotches and spots of the same color.  The St. Germain brach is finer bred, and appears to be a pointer introduced into France in the time of Charles X. It has a very fine skin, very fine hair of a white and orange color.  The Bourbon brach has the characters of the old French brach, with a white coat marked here and there with large brown blotches, and the white ground spotted with the same color; but what particularly characterizes this dog is that it is born with a stumpy tail, as if three-quarters of it had been chopped off.  The Dupuy brach is slender and has a narrow muzzle, as if it had some harrier blood in its veins.  It is white, with large dark maroon blotches.  The Auvergne brach resembles the southern brach, but has a white and black coat spotted with black upon white.  The pointer, or English brach (Fig. 3), descends from the old Spanish brach, but has been improved and rendered lighter and much swifter of foot by the introduction of the blood of the foxhound into its veins, according to the English cynegetic authors themselves.  The old pointer was of a white and orange color, and was indistinguishable from our St. Germain.  The pointer now fancied is white and