HISTORICAL NOTES 33 



an unbroken line of popularity, particularly in 

 England, but it was not standardised as a type 

 until 1876, which brings it too far down into pres- 

 ent-day history for this chapter. The cocker de- 

 veloped with the flint lock, considerable mention of 

 him being found in works dating from 1725 to 

 1813, when he had much the same characteristics 

 as now, a low, broad, short-legged, long-haired 

 dog. In general the cocker remained a small edition 

 of the springer until about 1880, when attention 

 was given to breeding to a fixed standard and a 

 nice lot of dogs began to be sho^vn in America. By 

 that time the Obo strain had been well established 

 in England, and Obo II came over, a puppy im- 

 ported in utero, dam Chloe II by Obo. To Obo II 

 we owe the present excellence of the cockers of 

 America. At the same time were imported Miss 

 Obo II and Obo Jr., which gave further impetus 

 to the strain, and succeeding these came the Cana- 

 dian-bred Black Duke, the best cocker shown in 

 America. Duke Royal, son of Ch. Romany Rye, 

 set the pace on the Pacific Coast, and succeeding 

 these came Black Pete and Doc, who later became 

 the property of Mr. Wilmerding. Doc sired Red 

 Doc and La Tosca, two more good ones, and this 

 brings us down to present-day pedigrees, treated 

 more at length in the chapter *'Who's-Who in 



