THE IRISH SETTER. 59 



The origin of the Irish Setter, like that of his cousins, 

 the English and the Gordon Setter, is buried in obscurity; 

 and no additional light is likely to illuminate the past for 

 the inquiring mind. 



Careful research and extensive inquiry among the breed- 

 ers and fanciers of the Irish Setter in England and Ireland, 

 have failed to elicit any new facts concerning the origin and 

 development of this breed. 



It has been suggested that he is a descendant of the 

 liver-colored setting dog. "As a matter of fact," says 

 Vero Shaw, "the earliest mention that we have been able 

 to discover of any Setter, peculiar to Ireland, is in the 

 Sportsman's Cabinet, where, in the chapter on English 

 Setters, direct allusion is made to this breed of dogs in the 

 following words: ' The sporting gentlemen of Ireland are 

 more partial to Setters than to Pointers, and they are prob- 

 ably better adapted to that country." This seems to indi- 

 cate that Setters of some kind were used on the Emerald 

 Isle at the beginning of this century. It must always be a 

 matter of regret that nothing was said by the writer in 

 question, or by other chroniclers of his time, of the appear- 

 ance of these dogs. 



However, coming down to the time when the red dog 

 first began to attract attention in England, his admirers 

 were divided on the color line, some breeders claiming that 

 red, without any admixture of white, was the proper color, 

 while others, with equal fervor, insisted that the red dog 

 with white points was just as proper and pure an Irish Set- 

 ter as the all-red dog. 



There can be no doubt that both are descended from the 

 same parent stock, and have, in later years, been inter- 

 bred, so that it is no uncommon occurrence to see, in a 

 litter of Irish Setter puppies, several with white markings 

 on face, breast, and feet. 



In the subjoined letter, just received from Rev. Robert 

 O'Callaghan, the most successful breeder of Irish Setters in 

 England, and probably the best living authority on this 

 breed in the world, conclusions similar to my own are 



