28o 



THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 



by him to Mr. Winton Smith. He was a 

 very massive and typical dog, with a grand 

 head, and during a short career hardly ever 

 suffered defeat. 



The bitches of late years certainly have 

 not been very remarkable, and I cannot 



h.m. the king's SANDRINGHAM LUCY 



BY BRAE OF HARDWICK SANDRINGHAM BLOSSOM. 



Photograph by Russell. 



think of a single one with whom I could 

 honestly say I was satisfied since the retire- 

 ment of Mr. McKenna's Wycombe Rattle. 

 The best, I think, was Winsford Briar, of 

 whom I thought so highly that, after award- 

 ing her several first prizes and a champion- 

 ship or two, I purchased her from her then 

 owner, Mr. Oswald Burgess, in the hope that 

 I might breed something good. She was 

 very typical, but not nearly big enough, and 

 disappointed me by proving an obstinate 

 non-breeder. 



Mr. Phillips brought out at the Crystal 

 Palace Show of 1906 a young dog who, if all 

 goes well, is probably destined to earn great 

 fame — Rivington Rolfe. He is a very big 

 dog, full of Clumber type, with a massive 

 head, already at sixteen months old as 

 well broken up as most dogs are at four 

 years, with sound and straight limbs, being 

 particularly straight and true behind, when' 

 so many Clumbers fail. He won in every 



class he competed in, and was awarded the 

 Championship, a verdict endorsed by, I 

 believe, every one of the spectators round 

 the ring. His sire is Welbeck Reaper, a 

 dog bred by Mr. Foljambe, and now in the 

 possession of the Duke of Portland, who 

 bought the former gen- 

 tleman's kennel en bloc 

 in 1905. 



A year previously 

 this dog was shown 

 under me at the same 

 show, just after he had 

 passed into the Duke's 

 possession, and, al- 

 though I was unable to 

 give him any better 

 than a V.H.C. card, I 

 told the keeper that I 

 expected him to prove 

 a most valuable sire, an 

 opinion I expressed also 

 in my report of the 

 show which appeared 

 in The Kennel Gazette, 

 so that I naturally felt 

 rather pleased when 

 Rivington Rolfe by 

 his successes proved 

 within such a short time that I was a 

 true prophet. 



The Field Trials have, no doubt, had a 

 great deal to do with the largely augmented 

 popularity of the breed and the great in- 

 crease in the number of those who own Clum- 

 bers. For the first two or three years after 

 these were truly established no other breed 

 seemed to have a chance with them ; and 

 even now, though both English and Welsh 

 Springers have done remarkably well, they 

 more than hold their own. The most dis- 

 tinguished performer by far was Mr. Winton 

 Smith's Beechgrove Bee, a bitch whose 

 work was practically faultless, and the first 

 Field Trial Champion among Spaniels. Other 

 good Clumbers who earned distinction in 

 the field were Beechgrove Minette, Beech- 

 grove Maud (who subsequently passed into 

 my possession), the Duke of Portland's 

 Welbeck Sambo, and Mr. Phillips' Rivington 

 Honey, Rivington Pearl, and Rivington Reel. 



