1924. ScHARFF — On the Breeds of Dogs Peculiar to Ireland. 93 



a top-knot. Dalziel could not trace the breed back more 

 than forty or fifty years. Hence it would seem as if this 

 race of dog was of quite a modern origin. But we must 

 remember that the Irish, according to Dalziel, owned 

 Spaniels certainly since early Christian times, and he 

 asserts that there are early Irish references to " hounds, 

 greyhounds and spaniels." I have not been able to trace 

 the origin of these references. The same author expresses 

 the opinion that the Welsh and English are indebted to 

 Ireland for the introduction of the Spaniel, which originally 

 may have been brought to Ireland from Spain. If that is 

 so, it must have been an old breed in Ireland, for the Spaniel 

 was alluded to in the old Welsh laws of the loth century 

 under the name of cholwyn.^^ The Irish word spdinear for 

 Spaniel is comparatively modern, and spdinear nisei would 

 be an appropriate term for this breed. 



There is in the National Museum a skull from a crannog 

 in Lough Gur in County Limerick which was pronounced 

 by Prof. Studer to be a dog originally described under the 

 name of Canis f. intermedius ^^ It was first discovered 

 in Bronze Age deposits in Austria, and may be referred to 

 a group of modern dogs, including pointers, setters and 

 spaniels. Prof. Studer informs us that the Lough Gur 

 skull belonged to a dog of middle size, something like a 

 shepherd's dog. 



Colonel Cane states that there were originally three 

 varieties of the Irish Water Spaniel. They were known as 

 the Southern, Northern, and Tweed Spaniels. The last form 

 is now quite extinct, and the Northern nearly so. The most 

 remarkable fact about this dog is that it has a more pro- 

 nounced individuality of type than any other breed. Con- 

 sidering that the typical Irish Water Spaniel — namely, the 

 Southern variety — is believed to have originated less than a 

 hundred years ago, it seems surprising that it shows no 

 inclination to diverge from the type. But (as Col. Cane 

 remarks) whether Justin McCarthy really originated this 

 breed at the time referred to, or whether he merely re- 



28 Dalziel. Hugh : " British Dogs." London, 2nd ed., 1889 — 97. 



29 Studer, Th. : Uber Hunde aus den Crannogs von Irland. Mitt d. 

 Naturforsch. Gesellsch. in Bern, 1900. 



