256 BRITISH DOGS 



celebrated far and wide in the country for his pugilistic proclivities, 

 and was, moreover, a really wonderful shot. 



One day, while out with this man and dog, the writer hit a bird 

 hard which went on over a small hanging wood and then towered. 

 On arriving as promptly as possible at the spot, we found it was 

 a potato garden, in which the occupier was apparently hard at work, 



" Did you see that bird fall ? " said Mr. C . 



" No, sir ; no bird fell here." 



"Ah!" was the reply, with a knowing wink at me. "Here, 

 then, we'll look for it." And beckoning his dog to the end of 

 the little field to give him the wind, he gave him a cast straight 

 across the potato digger. 



The old dog threw his head up into the wind, walked a few 

 yards, and then came to a dead point ten yards from the man. 

 Mr. C - walked up calmly, took his coat off, folded it up, and 

 laid it on the ground. 



" Now, then," he said, "give me that bird out of your pocket, 

 or I'll give you the hiding you ever had in your life." 



The man began, " I told ee ," and then, looking up and 



observing an ominous turning up of the shirt-sleeves, he took the 

 bird out of his pocket and handed it over without a word. 



" Whatever made you think of that ? " the writer said afterwards. 



" Why, because last week old Don did the same thing, only that 

 time it was at my coat, with a brace of birds in it, that I had put 

 down on the ground while I walked a bit of standing wheat in 

 the hot sun." 



Now, if we think of the very large number of these sportsmen, 

 both gentlemen and farmers, who all had dogs, we cannot help 

 coming to the certain conclusion that Pointers and Setters were far 

 more numerous in those days than in these ; and besides this, there 

 can be no doubt whatever that their field qualities were, as a rule, 

 vastly superior. Men in those days did not keep dogs for show 

 or for swagger, neither did they keep them for the purpose of 

 running them once or twice a year against Dick, Tom, and Harry ; 

 they were not therefore, forsooth, afraid of spoiling them by shooting 

 to them, as men are now. If they kept a dog, it had to be a good 

 one to shoot to, or else it would very soon itself be shot. 



In the South and West of England no strains, in the writer's 

 opinion, were kept distinct ; if a man had a bitch good in the field, 

 he would put her to an equally good dog belonging to some friend 

 or neighbour, utterly regardless of make or shape : excellence in 

 the field was the one thing needful. Dozens of names of men 

 who had kennels like this before the days of dog shows could be 

 mentioned. The late Mr. Calmady, a well-known sportsman and 

 M.F.H., of Devon and Cornwall celebrity, had some beautiful 

 lemon-and-whites. Mr. Webber, a Falmouth tradesman and a good 



