The Retriever. 371 



Conrad Gesner, in the early part of the sixteenth 

 century, wrote of dogs trained to bring back birds to 

 their masters ; but such animals as these were the 

 spaniels commonly used at that time. 



It must be taken for granted that our modern 

 retriever, be he either curly-coated, straight or 

 wavy-coated, black, brown, or pale liver in colour, 

 at some time was produced from one or other of 

 the crosses I have named. The " nick " answered 

 well, and what is now an actual and distinct variety 

 resulted therefrom one that with careful crossing 

 produces a type quite as well defined as is to be 

 found in the mastiff, bloodhound, and bulldog, which 

 may be taken as our oldest British varieties of 

 the canine race. With the improved farming, 

 close cropping, increasing wildness of game arising 

 from a variety of causes, and a disinclination 

 in the modern shooting man to fill his bag 

 over pointers and setters, the retriever is in many 

 quarters considered to be the dog of the future. 

 Whether this will prove to be the case or not, time 

 will tell. 



Field trials for retrievers were held at Vaynol 

 Park, the seat of Mr. Assheton Smith, in the autumn 

 of 1871-2, but on neither occasion do they appear 

 to have been particularly successful. The usual 

 competitions for pointers and setters took place at 



B B 2 



