Gordon Setter Cross. 49 



W. Wilson's Malcolm, a peculiarly richly-coloured black 

 and tan dog, purchased for a few pounds at Penrith show, 

 I think, in 1870. Again is there no pedigree, and consider- 

 able confusion is made in his entry in the first volume of 

 the Stud Book. Malcolm was a fair dog only, when com- 

 pared with an animal like Cockie his temper was not so 

 amiable as it might have been, and he carried his stern in 

 somewhat Pomeranian-like fashion, curled into his back. 

 He might have been a success at the stud : I have seen 

 excellent dogs by him, but, unfortunately, when in his 

 prime there was a nonsensical idea that the black and tan 

 sheepdogs obtained their colour through crossing with the 

 Gordon setter. There is no doubt the contrary was the 

 case, and that the Gordon setter had his coat and sensi- 

 bility improved by being crossed with the Highland sheep 

 dog. Black and white, black and tan, and black, white, 

 and tan were the real Scotch collie colours before the 

 gaudier and handsomer reds, yellows, or browns (now known 

 as sables) were produced. If Malcolm did not prove so- 

 great a success as he might have done had he lived in less 

 vilifying times, the prizes he won for his owner induced a 

 fondness for the show ring which culminated in Mr. Wilson 

 obtaining a world-wide celebrity as the breeder of many of 

 the best hackneys and ponies of the day. 



Coming a year or two later than the three already 

 described notabilities, was Mr. S. E. Shirley's Shamrock, a 

 tri-coloured showily-marked dog in black, white, and tan, 

 and one not much after my fancy owing to a peculiar soft- 

 ness in his expression, even amounting to silliness, which, 

 in one or two cases he, unfortunately, transmitted to 

 his offspring, and his coat was not of a good texture. 

 Strangely, this dog came from the north of Ireland, but no 



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