The Irish Water Spaniel. 149 



Except that they are considerably higher on the leg, the ears long and 

 lobular, deeply fringed with soft hair, the description of the modern 

 spaniel applies to them also. 



CHAPTER XXIX. THE IRISH WATER SPANIEL. 

 BY J. S. SKIDMORE. 



To a sportsman of limited means, or one who has not accommodation to keep 

 a team, the Irish water spaniel is the most useful dog he can have, inas- 

 much as he can be made to perform the duties of pointer, setter, retriever, 

 and spaniel ; but, as his name implies, he is peculiarly fitted by tempera- 

 ment and by a water -resisting coat for the arduous duties required by a 

 sportsman whose proclivities lie in the direction of wild fowl shooting . 

 In this branch of sporting they have no -equal, being able to stand any 

 amount of hardship ; this, combined with an indomitable spirit, leads 

 them into deeds of daring from which many dogs would shrink. Many 

 are the feats recorded of their pluck, sagacity, and intelligence. To a 

 well bred and trained specimen no sea is too rough, no pier too high, and 

 no water too cold even if they have to break the ice at every step they 

 are not damped, and day after day they will follow it up, being of the 

 " cut-and-come-again " sort. As a companion for a lady or gentleman 

 they have no equal, whilst a well behaved dog of the breed is worth a 

 whole mint of toys to the children, he allowing the little ones to pull him 

 about by the ears, to roll over and over with them, to fetch their balls 

 as often as thrown for him, and to act as their guard in times of 

 danger. 



When I first commenced to keep Irish water spaniels, many years ago, 

 there were three strains, or rather varieties one was known as the 

 Tweed spaniel, having its origin in the neighbourhood of the river of 

 that name. They were very light liver colour, so close in curl as to give 

 me the idea that they had originally been a cross from a smooth-haired 

 dog ; they were long in tail, ears heavy in flesh and hard like a hound's, 

 but only slightly feathered fore legs feathered behind, hind legs smooth , 

 head conical, lips more pendulous than McCarthy's strain. The one I 



