BREAKING AND HANDLING. 2; 



white, if more than on the breast and toes, is considered 

 undesirable, and is nearly all bred out, considering the 

 breed as a whole. From time immemorial, it has been 

 highly prized and guarded with care, hence it is a very pure 

 breed. To preserve the purity of color and other charac- 

 teristics, the best breeders judiciously avoid out-crosses on 

 other breeds. 



While the breed is not well represented at the field trials, 

 and frequently not at all, it has many staunch admirers, and 

 a powerful conservative support. The small representation 

 in public field competitions naturally detracted from ex- 

 tensive records; nevertheless, it demonstrated its claim to 

 recognition as possessing workers of a high order, and a 

 percentage of those which ran were winners. It would, in 

 any event, be impossible to compete on equal terms, the 

 many owners of English setters, who are field trial sup- 

 porters, being relatively, overwhelming in numbers. No 

 organized, vigorous effort has been made to bring them into 

 regular public competition, although, as aforementioned, 

 they have an extensive, powerful ownership, and a good rec- 

 ord. Undoubtedly the breed would be greatly improved by 

 representation in the general competitions, or if trials were 

 inaugurated specially for it. The consequent general knowl- 

 edge respecting the best individuals would result in greater 

 precision in breeding a uniformly higher grade of field dogs, 

 inasmuch as the best specimens could be selected. Subor- 

 dinate causes, such as the indifference to public trials by the 

 owners of one breed, may contribute largely to the ascend- 

 ancy of other breeds in public estimation, failure to compete 

 being unjustly considered as equivalent to real defeat. This 

 assumption might be reasonable if dogs were kept strictly 

 for racing purposes, but the larger part of sportsmen value 

 them for private shooting. 



That this setter has high working qualities is manifested 



