76 THE AMERICAN HUNTING DOG 



you just where Mr. Pat is hiding so you will not 

 be looking somewhere else when he jumps, will do 

 all for you that setter or pointer can do, and will 

 be a much easier dog to keep. Again, suppose 

 the hill country in your neighbourhood has many 

 an oozy rill where the flight birds of the Canada 

 woodcock pitch down and stick around awhile dur- 

 ing the fall months. What better dog for an oc- 

 casional day with them than a little cocker, which 

 you can whistle up any time about the house and 

 don't have to keep in a kennel? Or, if you live 

 down in the prairie and woods country of the cen- 

 tral states and get a day in the marshes after 

 jacksnipe or a day's ducking, again the cocker is 

 as good as any dog, and is a grand water retriever 

 if the water is not too icy. Yes, sir; there's a lot 

 that that diminutive setter, the spaniel, can do for 

 you, and most bird-dog laws and rsstrictions pass 

 over his head, as in our country he is hardly 

 classed by wardens as a hunting dog at all. 



This disqualification as a hunting dog is due to 

 the bench-show evil, which operates to produce 

 point winners rather than gun dogs. For the 

 sportsman a line of the spaniels that are being 

 worked afield is of more value than all the famous 

 bench names in the world, so there is not much of 

 value in going into spaniel history, as we have 



