34 THE AMERICAN HUNTING DOG 



Bird Dogs." It should be noted that when Doc 

 went to Mr. Wilmerding he became the property 

 of a sportsman who worked him on game, thus 

 reviving the useful side of the cocker. Not one in 

 fifty spaniels to-day ever see a covert or scent 

 game, so that no wonder their progeny are gun- 

 shy, poor hunters, and require a lot of careful 

 training. Yet all over the east there is no better 

 hunter for cock and grouse than this same cocker. 

 The water spaniel is so odd in every particular 

 that he represents a wider development from the 

 original spaniels than even the setter. Big, rangy, 

 with tight curly hair, a spike tail with no brush, 

 this is an odd, specialised type that has come down 

 to us through many centuries. Except for colour 

 of coat and a few minor points, there is not much 

 to differentiate the Norfolk and Irish water span 

 iel; to us Americans they may be the same dog. 

 The Irish is red, in solid colour, the Norfolk, liver 

 and white, with liver ticks and with no topknot 

 over the smooth part of the face. Both are won 

 derful water dogs ; and have it in their blood since 

 the earliest hunting times, when they were sent 

 out not only for game, but for arrows and bolts, 

 and were even required to dive after fowl that 

 had escaped the hawk, or had been wounded and 

 had clung to the bottom after the fashion of ducks. 



