76 THE AMEKICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



experiment, and offered to trust one of his stock, out of 

 Regent, to the care of the writer of this article, to be 

 brought up where he could not possibly see game, and at 

 the proper age, namely, nine or ten months, to be first 

 introduced to it. The result was in accordance with Mr. 

 Pearce's prophecy, for the puppy not only beat his ground 

 in fine style, but at the end of a few hours work began to 

 stand his birds as only a well-bred Pointer or Setter will 

 do, without any artificial education of any kind. Of course 

 the report of this trial added greatly to Kent's reputation; 

 and being followed by the successes of Rex (the above 

 puppy) at Stafford and Shrewsbury, where he won three 

 cups, beating in the final trial Mr. Field's Duke (an English 

 Setter), who had gained a high reputation in previous 

 years, Kent had so strong a run at the stud for several 

 years that it would be difficult at the present day to find a 

 Black and Tan Setter without a strain of his blood. Mr. 

 Pearce's Regent had several large litters by him, including 

 Rex, Young Kent, lowne, La Reine, Dane, Deal, and Silk, 

 all winners at shows or field trials." 



I quote the above for the reason that no pure-bred Gor- 

 don's pedigree to-day can be found that does not trace to 

 Kent and the above-named dogs, and end with such well- 

 known Gordon Setters as Lord Bolingbroke' s Argyle and 

 Ruby I. (E. K. S. B., No. 1683), or Coward's Sam, Joblin's 

 Nell, or Friday and Fan, Duke of Gordon's Grouse, Duke 

 of Gordon's Nell, or to Zango, Zara, Major, Nep, Drill, or 

 Mopsa. 



Coming down to the present day, we find that the Gor- 

 don Setter in America is called, by the opposition, all the 

 hard names they can think of because some men who breed 

 dogs simply for show, breed them to a size that utterly 

 unfits them for field-work. In fact, many of these so- 

 called Gordons were not Gordons, but a cross-bred dog. 

 Their being black-and-tan in color was sufficient to mislead 

 the amateur and the unsophisticated judge. Their owners 

 called them Gordons, exhibited and sold them as such, and 

 as a field dog they were a failure. The pure-bred Gordon 



