276 BRITISH DOGS 



dated 1685 such an instance, and history also records that Dudley, 

 Duke of Northumberland, systematically broke in setting dogs in 

 1385), does it not therefore, in the light of our greater knowledge, 

 seem an easy transition to have produced our present Setter without 

 having had recourse to the many mythical crosses that many writers 

 in their ingenuity have ascribed to them, in their anxiety to account 

 for the particular type as seen in the Black-and-tan Setter? Does 

 it not seem exceedingly probable that, by selecting a long-legged 

 Spaniel, a very easy step in the production of a Setter has been 

 gained ? When, too, one sees the present type of exhibition Spaniel, 

 and how by following this process to what an extreme lowness in 

 leg and length of body, etc., has been carried, cannot one easily 

 follow a graduation towards the other extreme ? Is it necessary, 

 therefore, to believe that the peculiar points of the Black-and-tan 

 Setter have been produced by crossing with the numerous other 

 varieties of Hound, Collie, Bloodhound, etc. ? Undoubtedly the 

 necessary touch of romance in the history of the breed is supplied, 

 if we accept the story of the poaching Collie at Gordon Castle, 

 and to which many of the undoubted good qualities of this breed 

 are ascribed. Are we to accept the theory of the Bloodhound 

 cross, because of the pronounced "haw" in the eye of this 

 Setter and the high occipital protuberance, both of which in our 

 present animals are not so marked as they were twenty years ago, 

 and happily the former feature is now rarely noticeable ? How often 

 was this peculiarity of the orbit evident in our best specimens of 

 Sussex and Clumber Spaniel, and yet there was no suggestion of 

 Bloodhound cross promulgated in their case ! In the same way, to 

 explain the characteristic colour of this breed we have had many 

 advocates that it was obtained from the Collie aforesaid or the 

 Bloodhound. 



The late Rev. T. Pearce states that 1820 was the period when 

 this breed was brought into special prominence at Gordon Castle. 

 One cannot forget that the Irish Setter, or at any rate dogs of 

 that colour, as a distinct breed have been longer in existence ; and 

 coming down to more recent times, we have trustworthy evidence of 

 a fresh introduction of Irish blood to produce the rich mahogany 

 tan which is a special feature of the Black-and-tan Setter at the 

 present time. To give an instance of this, when exhibitions were 

 not the colossal ventures that they are now, and when all the varieties 

 of Setters had to compete together, a noted breeder of the Black-and- 

 tan, the late Mr. Binnie Bishopriggs, exhibited a Black-and-tan bitch, 

 that was awarded a second prize, being beaten by an Irish Setter. 

 In those days the tan markings were undoubtedly of a lighter shade, 

 and the rich deep colour of the Irish dog attracted the attention of this 

 noted breeder, and suggested the wish that if he could obtain such 

 beautiful tan with the deep glossy black, a more handsome animal 



