228 PARTRIDGES 



years the poor quality of the work done 

 by retrievers in the field was a common 

 cause of complaint in the shooting world. 

 In this respect, it is very satisfactory to 

 be able to record a marked advance of 

 late years. This improvement is, without 

 doubt, due to the beneficial influence 

 exercised by the various Field Trials 

 Associations. Field trials are often the 

 subject of severe criticism ; their advan- 

 tages to sportsmen in general are often 

 questioned, and it is pointed out that the 

 education of a dog for ordinary sporting 

 purposes has little in common with the 

 special training which results in a win at 

 the trials. This is probably to a certain 

 extent true, under the keen competition 

 that now prevails, but after all it really 

 matters but little whether the individual 

 field trial winner may or may not be a 

 useful dog for practical purposes ; the 

 fact remains that the trials annually held 

 all over the country have certainly 

 been instrumental in raising the general 

 standard of retrievers' work. 



