CHAPTER XVII. 



THE IRISH SETTER. 



IT has often struck me as being extraordinary that 

 so little is known of the origin of the Irish setter 

 that he is an old dog in his purity there is not 

 the slightest doubt. He has been alluded to by 

 writers early in the present century, but they have 

 failed to tell us what kind of a dog he was, either in 

 colour or form. I believe him to have been a red, 

 or a red and white dog, a smart active animal, full 

 of courage, rather headstrong, an untiring worker, 

 with olfactory organs quite as good as any other 

 dog used for a similar purpose. 



And how strange it seems that the native Irish 

 dogs are for the most part red or brown. This 

 may be a favourite Milesian colour, or it may be 

 the result of accident. One cannot say that the 

 Irish red setter, the Irish terrier, and the water 

 spaniel of Ireland, came at any recent date from one 

 stock. Still, their colours, if not quite alike, are 

 similar, and for modern tastes, the redder the terrier 

 and the setter are, the better. 



