53 o THE CARNIVORES 



gives tongue when hunting, has a less heavy head than the Clumber, and a wavy- 

 coat of a golden-liver color without any admixture of white. The Norfolk spaniel 

 is subject to considerable variation, and is either liver and white, or black and white, 

 in its color. It differs from the two preceding races by the lesser proportionate 

 length of the body, and the longer fringe of hair on the ears, which frequently 

 nearly touch the ground. Cockers are small spaniels, and are now divided into 

 Welsh and modern Cockers ; the former being liver, or liver and white, while 

 the latter are larger and generally completely black. The head is relatively long, 

 the eyes are less full than in the other breeds, and the coat is soft, silky, and waved, 

 with a considerable amount of fringe on the throat and limbs. 



The King Charles and Blenheim spaniels are much smaller animals, probably 

 derived from the Cocker. The King Charles is black and tan in color, with a larger 

 or smaller admixture of white, and is characterized by the great length of the ears. 

 In both the muzzle is extremely short, with an upturned nose, while the head is 

 nearly globular, and the ears should touch the ground. The coat should be long, 

 silky, and wavy, but devoid of curl ; while the ears, limbs, and feet should be abun- 

 dantly fringed. 



The water-spaniels, of which the best-marked breed is the Irish, are 

 Irish Water- relatively large dogs, with broad splay feet, and a woolly, thickly-matted, 

 Spanu an( j O f ten cur jy C oat, which is more or less oily. The southern Irish 

 water-spaniel is characterized by the bare face and thinly-haired tail, the presence of 

 a distinct " topknot" on the crown of the head, the long curls round the legs, and 

 the thickly-curling coat of the body and ears ; the color being of a uniform puce 

 liver tint. The northern variety of the Irish water-spaniel has shorter ears, with 

 but little fringe, while the curls of the body hair are shorter and closer ; the color 

 being either liver or liver and white. 



The various breeds known as setters are large spaniels which have 

 Setters 



acquired the habit of pointing at their game. They derive their name 



from having been originally taught to crouch down when marking game, in order 

 to admit of the net with which the quarry was taken being readily drawn over 

 them. With the use of guns this habit became, however, of no advantage, and 

 setters were taught to assume the attitude of pointers. At the present day there 

 are five chief breeds of setters, three of which are commonly seen in England. 



The English setter, which is regarded as the result of a cross between the field- 

 spaniel and the pointer, should have a silky coat, with a slight wave, but no curl in 

 the hair. The fore and hind-legs should be thinly fringed with hair, while in the 

 tail the fringe of long hair should fall regularly like the teeth of a comb, without: 

 any signs of bushiness. In the middle of the tail the length of the fringe should be 

 from six to seven inches in length, while at the point it should not exceed half an 

 inch. An abundance of hair between the toes is another "point" of the setter. 

 There is great variation in color, which is valued according to the following scale, 

 viz.: black and white ticked with large splashes, known as the "blue Belton";: 

 orange and white freckled, known as "orange Belton"; orange or lemon-and- 

 white without ticks ; liver and white ticked ; black and white with slight tan mark- 

 ings ; black and white ; liver and white without ticks ; pure white ; black ; liver ? 



