In winter time, however, when severe frosts have set in, and long nights are to be spent at the hut or in a bachot (i.e., a flat-bottomed wildfowling punt), it would not do to have the dogs' bodies partly bare; and, accordingly, from the end of the summer all the sporting poodles in the fens are allowed to recover their winter coats, so that by the time that their endurance is to be severely tested they are ready for all the inclemencies of the season.

In his winter coat a sporting poodle is perfectly impervious to frost or wet, and will face the greatest hardships without so much as a shiver. This coat resembles to some extent sheeps' wool in its texture, and in the smaller variety of the poodle - that used as lapdogs - when the little dogs' coats are clean and bright, they look not unlike lambs; hence the French ladies call them chiens moutons. The large poodle's coat, however, is coarser in texture, and, if the dog is required as a companion, a great deal of grooming is necessary in order to keep him in presentable order. Revoil does not speak favourably of the poodle's appearance. "He is a short and stumpy dog," he declares, "coarse and ugly; his legs are disproportioned; he is apple headed, and withal carries his head badly; his ears are too long and too large," etc. But he has evidently only seen curs, for this description does not apply to the poodle proper. The French author, however, grows enthusiastic when he speaks of the poodle's qualities: "He has an excellent nose; he is as faithful - as a poodle; he is intelligent enough to play cards or dominoes - and win! He is extremely active, and water seems to be his element." All this is correct enough; • but when Revoil states, further on, that the poodle is probably descended from the land or the water spaniel, the question arises whether the compliment could not be reversed; and there we lose ourselves in fruitless speculation.

Then our author relates that, in the sixteenth century, poodles were used for duck shooting; but now, he says, they are simply transformed into chiens savants. Now, French writers are noted for their unconquerable wish to appear witty, and their love of brilliancy is so great that they will even sacrifice truth if it has to give way to a pun. However, in the present case Revoil evidently does not practically know what he writes about. There are certainly less poodles employed now for sporting purposes than there used to be, but there are still many so employed; and the difference between the number to be seen now and in past years arises simply from the fact that the majority of marshy lands are being reclaimed and cultivated, and, like Othello's, the poodle's occupation will soon be entirely gone, as well as that of our own breeds of water spaniels, if all marshy lands are to be drained. As regards poodles when considered as chiens savants, everybody knows that this breed is almost invariably chosen by tumblers or circus performers whenever they wish to train dogs for any peculiar tricks, and there are but few people who have not witnessed their extraordinary talents in that line. Revoil states that, in his youth, a certain poodle named Munito performed wonderful feats.

He also says that in 1829 there were two poodles in London who played a game of ecarte with all the rapidity and skill of professional players. As regards that sort of thing, General Hutchinson, in his work on dog breaking, sixth edition, page 246, narrates what he himself saw performed by a Russian poodle in Paris. The dog told what o'clock it was, told fortunes, etc.....and there is an illustration, page 245, of a notorious poodle playing a game of dominoes. Several of these dogs have played cards well, and numberless tricks hare been taught them. They are, in fact, the performing dogs of all public exhibitions.

To return now to foreign authors' opinions about the poodle, I find in a small book entitled " Conseils aux Chasseurs," by Charles Bemelmans, gamekeeper, page 108, a few lines relating to barbate. Strange to say, Bemelmans, who really ought to know better than even allude to the exploded idea, says that poodles are but mediocre setting dogs! Who ever saw a poodle on point? Evidently this author is all at sea there. He, however, testifies that poodles are extremely good retrievers, and very intelligent.

Another French author, the Viscount de la Neuville, in " La Chasse au Chien d'Arret," devotes a paragraph to poodles. He declares that they can be broken easily to do anything one likes, they are so clever and sensible. He says that the "poodle is not, strictly speaking, a setting dog" (which shows a better knowledge of the subject than Bemelmans exhibits), " but that he is excellent for retrieving in marshes or flushing marsh birds. He is, however, slow in his work, and easily put out of wind. The usual colour is liver, but a smaller breed, called petit barbet, is black." So he says. But I have seen hard-working poodles of as many varieties in size, form, and colour as one might notice in all our breeds of spaniels, barring Clumbers, put together. As regards colour, I have seen black poodles, liver poodles, white poodles, and varieties of black and white and liver and white ad libitum. Concerning size, I have seen a Russian poodle quite as big as a large-sized retriever; and a sporting French or Belgian poodle not much bigger than a Sussex spaniel. In form, again, they vary greatly.

Some have almost exactly the lines of the Irish water spaniel, and others were as broad as they were high; but they all had the same head, the same intelligent eye, and the same texture of coat, woolly and thick underneath, and hanging in ringlets outwardly. The length of ear is also a remarkable feature in the poodle. As a rule, it ought, when brought over the nose, to reach at least over the other ear.

As regards utility, personal experience, especially in sporting matters, goes a very long way, and I have myself seen poodles at work in Holland, in Belgium, and in France. In fact, throughout the Continent, wherever marshes are still to be found, the professional duck shooters use poodles. Why? Why, for two very good reasons: the first of which is that there are no other good breeds of water spaniels to be had there, for love or money, except in a few favoured localities where British shooters have imported English and Irish water spaniels. The French and the Dutch have no spaniels proper. What they call epagneuls de marais (which expression, naturally enough, we would translate verbatim by "marsh spaniels," i.e, water spaniels) are simply setters which have been broken to marsh shooting. The few regular spaniels proper which are, now and then, to be met with on the Continent are of British descent, and, although they are greatly prized by those who own them, they are not placed by the professionals on a par with their native poodles.

Now, as a matter of fact, a first-rate poodle, thoroughly experienced in his work, is not easy to beat, and the extraordinary intelligence these dogs display is well-nigh marvellous; but, nevertheless, those who have seen a good English water spaniel or a not-over-stubborn Irish ditto at work, will bear in mind that better work than theirs is not to witnessed everywhere, and there the matter remains.