THE FIELD SPANIEL. 117 



his behavior and too wide in his range until he has had a longer 

 drill than most sportsmen can afford, and in retrieving he is often 

 hard mouthed. When thoroughly broken, however, he is an ex- 

 cellent aid to the gun ; but he is so intermixed with other breeds, 

 that it is impossible to select any particular specimen as the true 

 type. With regard to the Welsh and Devon cocker of former 

 times, they are now scarcely to be met with in a state of purity 

 and of the regulation size (20 lbs. to 25 lbs.) ; most of them have 

 been crossed with the springer, or by improved management have 

 been raised in weight to 30 lbs. at the least, which militates against 

 their use in some coverts ; and in a vast majority of teams, the 

 modern field spaniel must be regarded as more like the springer 

 than the cocker. The Welsh and Devon cockers are both liver- 

 colored, not of the Sussex golden hue, but of a dead true liver 

 color. Their ears are not too large for work, and on the show 

 bench would by many judges be considered too small ; but they 

 are always lobular, without the slightest tendency to a vine shape. 

 Throughout the country there are numberless breeds of cockers of 

 all colors, varying from white, black, or liver to red and white, 

 lemon and white, liver and white, and black and white. Lady- 

 bird is nearly all red, but she comes of strains usually all liver or 

 all black. The illustration is a portrait of Mr. W. Gillett's Brush, 

 an excellent representative dog. 



The Blenheim and King Charles' Spaniels will be described under 

 the head of toy dogs, to which purpose alone are they really suited, 

 though sometimes used m covert shooting. 



