20 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



Spaniel origin. Palpably the Setter was then an established 

 breed, as shown by the assertion that "there is another 

 sort of Land Spannyels which are called Setters" That 

 Setters and Spaniels should be classed as being of the same 

 family, several centuries ago, is not remarkable; nor is it 

 remarkable that a sporting writer' s dicta at that time should 

 be unquestioned, since there were but few of them, and 

 people at large were uneducated in such matters. With 

 all the advantages of a sporting press, a multitude of 

 writers, an extensive sporting literature, and numerous an- 

 nual bench shows and field trials as educational institutions, 

 there have grown up a wonderful diversity of opinion and 

 misinformation in respect to the different breeds at the 

 present day. It is not strange, therefore, that, in the year 

 1600, Richard Surflet classed the Setter as a Spaniel, 

 although, as mentioned hereinbefore, he refers to this breed 

 as "another sort of Land Spannyel." 



In the chapter on the Sussex Spaniel, in the same work, 

 Stonehenge says: "About the year 1555, a duke of 

 Northumberland trained one 'to set birds for the net;' 

 and soon afterward the Setter was produced, either by 

 selection or by crossing the Talbot Hound and Spaniel." 

 The utter absurdity and thoughtlessness of such an illog- 

 ical statement is self-evident to anyone. 



A duke trained a Sussex Spaniel to point, and soon after- 

 ward the breed of Setters was produced. Why could not 

 all breeds be thus taught to point ? This is rendered still 

 more absurd by the fact, well known to all students of 

 natural history, that an educational act is not transmitted 

 to the progeny. That Stonehenge was not quite positive 

 in his inferences is shown by his remarks in the revised 

 edition of the same work, published in 1878, wherein he 

 treats the subject as follows: "The Setter is, without doubt, 

 either descended from the Spaniel, or both are offshoots of 

 the same parent stock, originally that is, before the 

 improvements in the gum introduced the practice of shoot- 

 ing flying, it is believed that he was merely a Spaniel 

 taught to ' stop ' or ' set ' as soon as he came upon the 



