314 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



also a team on ruffed grouse for sixteen days. They were 

 weary at the end and foot- sore, but by no means tired out, 

 and probably the insufficiency of strengthening food was 

 most to blame. I could fill pages with citations of in- 

 stances in which Clumbers have not tired out, but can 

 not recollect a single instance of their having done so. 



"Basil," an eminent English authority on shooting, 

 wrote in a London publication, two years ago, an article on 

 Clumber Spaniels with particular reference to their superi- 

 ority over Pointers and Setters at all work save that of 

 grouse-shooting on the moors. The following is an extract : 



For any man who does not shoot on moors, and who wants a general dog, I 

 say take a Clumber. There is no sort of low country he can not do. I may 

 go even further, and say he will do grouse ground too, and I believe he would 

 well, especially in those districts, such as Yorkshire and Derbyshire, where 

 birds are wild, and where the ordinary sportsman has to go " gruffing," as it is 

 called, to get game; i. e., stealing up the " gruffs," or gullies and undulations 

 in the ground, and trying all the clumps of long, old, twisted heather and 

 broken bogs. Of course my Lord Nabob, who can command an army of men, 

 can drive his grouse. I talk of the man who enjoys more sport than he; i. e., 

 the man who, as I say, wants a general dog. A good retrieving Clumber, 

 taught, as they mostly are, to drop to hand, fur, wing, and shot, and to keep 

 at heel when desired, is the most useful dog you can have. On partridge and 

 low ground shooting he is any dog's equal (I say his master); and by walking 

 across the open places on the moor, and thus driving the birds forward to deep, 

 lying bogs and "gruffs" (similar tactics to partridge-shooting), you will find 

 him a very satisfactory animal to fill the bag. And in Scotch cover, for wood- 

 cock, blackcock, and pheasant shooting in the long old ling, ferns, and juniper, 

 which is the undergrowth in Highland woods, he is fully in his element, being 

 perfectly mute, sagacious, and killing. For any man who wants a general dog 

 and a general gun, I should say take a good cylinder twelve-bore, and a hand- 

 some, well-bred, and well-broken retrieving Clumber, and you will not regret 

 it; ... In my country the Lord Nabobs keep their Pointers and Setters 

 for the moors, and Clumbers for partridge-shooting. Experience has taught 

 them that that is the right course, and that is the course pursued when they 

 kill from one thousand to three thousand brace of birds in a season. 

 The advantage which a Clumber has over a Pointer for partridges is he 

 goes much quieter, and when he flushes is within range. . . . Again, 

 birds when they scatter in turnips often run very much. With a Pointer 

 roading and reading them, they frequently run all over the field, especially 

 in windy weather, and thus steal away out of shot or at long distances. A 

 Spaniel when he comes across game does not give it leisure to play these 

 tricks; he pounces on it, and it must rise at once. Pheasants, also, in turnips, 

 often tease a Pointer or Setter terribly, when a good Spaniel would have them 



