242 BRITISH DOGS 



and registers of pedigrees were still wanting, until the era of shows 

 and field trials made their value, and the necessity of more accuracy 

 on such matters, apparent. Good strains of Pointers existed in 

 many kennels, and systematic breeding for improvement was 

 taken in hand by Mattingley and others. Many of our great 

 families owned kennels of distinct strains, and those of Earl Derby, 

 at Knowsley, and Earl Sefton, have pretty largely contributed to 

 produce the excellence of our existing Pointers. The Edge strain 

 obtained merited fame, and when the kennels were broken up, 

 after the death of Webb Edge, there were eager buyers at the 

 sale at Strelley, some of the Pointers going to Prince Albert, and 

 others to Mr. Statter, to Mr. Brailsford, of the Knowsley Kennels, 

 and to Mr. George Moore, of Appleby. 



Mr. Garth's celebrated Drake, whose pedigree is given very 

 fully in the Kennel Club Stud Book, takes us back about half 

 a century, with an almost unbroken lineage ; and since Drake's 

 time (he was whelped 1867) most of our Pointers have had their 

 pedigrees minutely kept. 



Mr. Lort, writing in 1887, says : 



" Great improvements have been made, within the last ten or 

 twelve years, in mapy of our now numerous Pointer kennels, 

 insomuch that far better-looking dogs are now to be seen competing 

 and winning at field trials ; and many of our chief field-trial winners 

 have figured in the prize lists of the leading shows, notably Prince 

 Solms's Naso of Kippen, Mr. F. Lowe's Bang Bang and Duke of 

 Hessen, Colonel Cotes's Carlo, Mr. Shield's Gladsome, and Mr. 

 Salter's Osborne Ale, with many others. Some that have not been 

 fortunate enough to win at field trials have shown themselves to be 

 not only handsome but really good dogs at work. 



On the show-bench, since the days of Hamlet, Wagg, and 

 Ponto, the leading places have been successfully held by Mr. George 

 Pilkington's Faust, Mr. Luck's Bang II., Mr. Norrish's Graphic, 

 and last, but by no means least or worst, Mr. C. H. Beck's Naso 

 of Upton. Amongst the opposite sex, the late Major Vaughan Lee's 

 Maggie, Mr. Grant's Maggie, Mr. R. J. Lloyd Price's Bow Bells, 

 Mr. Heywood Lonsdale's Peach, Mr. Beck's Nan, Mr. S. Price's 

 Belle of Bow, and a host of others, have gained high positions. 



We find the blood of old Champion Bang running strongly 

 through the list of field-trial winners, Priam, Scamp, Bang Bang, 

 Laurel, Lingo, Hero, and others, having done much to bring the 

 good old blood into high repute ; whilst Mr. Salter has been 

 especially fortunate in producing such animals as Malt, Romp's 

 Baby, Paris, and Osborne Ale, by crosses from Bang, on the Salter 

 strain. My Naso (as good a dog as ever ran) earned a reputation, 

 not only in this country, but also on the Continent, where many 



