The Curly -coated Black Retriever. 377 



are owned by Viscount Melville, at Melville Castle, 

 Mid Lothian ; his Robin Hood is about equal to 

 anything that one has seen of late, and that he can 

 transfer his excellence to his sons was proved by a 

 puppy by him being sold at Aldridge's in June for 

 twenty-three guineas, the whole of the litter realising 

 fifty-six guineas, by no means bad prices as things 

 go for unbroken dogs. Mr. S. Darby, at Tiverton, 

 appears to be giving more attention than anyone else 

 to the variety, and, as I write, so far as the show 

 bench is concerned, his kennel is by far the best, 

 and contains at least half a dozen specimens about 

 as perfect as they can be found. Mr. Henry Skip- 

 worth, of Barkwith, near Lincoln, has an equally 

 good lot, and of a strain that has been in his posses- 

 sion many years. Mr. W. Walker, Preston, also 

 owns several excellent specimens, and it was one 

 of his fine young dogs to which Mr. Lloyd Price, 

 when judging at Birmingham in 1892, awarded a 

 second prize, he withholding all others in about as 

 good a class of the variety as had been benched. 

 Though each of the nine entries brought into the 

 ring, had at one time or another taken show honours, 

 they were not to the liking of the judge, who created 

 quite a sensation by acting as stated. At any rate, 

 he proved to have the courage of his convictions, 

 which is not always the case with modern judges. 



