344 Modern Dogs. 



Failing to find anything of particular interest in 

 the early days of the Irish setter, I turned to Mr. W. 

 C. Bennett, of Dublin, a gentleman who has made 

 the variety his hobby, and he most kindly promised to 

 do what he could for me in the matter. The 

 following particulars from his pen will no doubt be 

 read with interest : 



My inquiries relative to the above breed have tended to 

 convince me that, so far at least as the Midland and Western 

 Counties of Ireland, Dublin, and its vicinity, were concerned 

 (which were best known to my three first named informants, whose 

 experience and opinions are given below), the red setter was but 

 seldom encountered, and that red and white Irish setters (differing 

 in many essential qualities and in general appearance from the 

 English variety) were well known and highly esteemed. 



That this assertion will be met with an indignant denial from 

 the owners and exhibitors of the red dogs at present gracing the 

 bench and holding their own in Field Trials, I am quite prepared 

 for, but how far back does their recollection carry them ? The 

 first gentleman I interviewed on the subject was Mr. Mahon, one 

 of the old Ross Mahon stock, of Galway fame, now over eighty 

 years of age, and son of the Rev. H. Mahon, of Castlegar, an 

 ardent sportsman and owner of many setters, all of which were red 

 and white, and who held the opinion often expressed to his son,, 

 that this was the true colour of the Irish setter. This gentleman's 

 recollection carried him back to the last century (he having died 

 in the year 1838.) 



The present Mr. Mahon informs me that in his early days dogs 

 wholly red were rare, though such, he admits, existed, and were 

 considered more difficult to break than the red and white, which, 

 he says, were smaller. A strain of them, called the " Ahascragh 

 breed," kept in his family were highly prized, but which, from being 



