The Pointer 303 



house's Hamlet, out of Vesta, by Brockton's Bounce. Bang was first 

 seen in public at Shrewsbury field trials, 1871, when he was third in the 

 pointer puppy stakes, won by Mr. Statter's Pride, the second going to 

 Bang's brother Beppo, but Mr. Price was soon aware that Bang was better, 

 so he sold Beppo, thus retaining the future champion. The following 

 year Bang came out again at the Devon and Cornwall trials, and we can 

 well recollect how grandly he worked against a lemon and white dog of 

 Bishop's called Rock, and a smart little dog of Mr. Body's called Ranger. 



"At this time Mr. Price had commenced breeding from Bang, and the 

 following year brought a young dog of his called Pat, who was no match 

 for Bang in the braces, while Brackenberry's Romp (dam of Mr. Statter's 

 Romp) bested him in the singles. Bang was in something more like his 

 old form in the next season, as with his first real good son, Mike, he made 

 a splendid brace at the Devon and Cornwall, winning two stakes, one 

 an all-ages stakes, Mike also winning the puppy stakes. So elated was 

 Mr. Price that he made a journey to Shrewsbury with the sire and the 

 son, and against fourteen of the picked braces of England they came out 

 first in brilliant form. This feat was repeated for three seasons in suc- 

 cession, and it would not have been difficult to have named Bang and Mike 

 as the best brace of pointers in the world. 



"At several other field trials Bang figured well up to the fore, his 

 extraordinary style and bold way of coming onto his birds being very 

 telling, and he was a very dangerous dog for any other to come against. 

 At shows he very soon took the lead also, and until he began to show age 

 was never beaten. He was a big pointer, possessing enormous bone, and 

 his proportions were faultless, though perhaps on the coarse side, his coat 

 being more of the pin-wire order than most of the show dogs, and his head 

 bolder and blunter than some of the high-bred ones. He was a champion 

 at the Crystal Palace and won that prize several times, also the twenty- 

 guineas cup for the best field-trials pointer shown at the Palace in 1874. 

 He regularly 'farmed' all the shows in the Western counties as well. 



"As a sire no pointer has ever equalled Champion Bang in getting 

 both show and field-trials performers, his produce including Mike, a show 

 and field-trials winner; Bow Bells, a show and field-trials winner; Don 

 (Vandervort's) a show and field-trials winner in America; Bang Bang, with 

 a similar record; Bow, the same; and such winners at field trials as Whim, 

 Laurel, Blanche and innumerable others. As to bench-show winners, 



