CHAPTER XX. 

 THE IRISH WATER SPANIEL. 



EARLY in 1859 a considerable amount of corre- 

 spondence appeared in the Field with regard to Irish 

 Water Spaniels. There had been writers on the 

 matter who knew little or nothing about the dog in 

 question, and now inquiries were made as to what the 

 Irish Spaniel was and what he had been. " Smack" 

 wrote of the " St. Leger breed," and of an excellent 

 strain kept by Lord Erne ; and the same week 

 another admirer of the variety wrote from Dublin 

 that, after long and diligent search, he found the 

 " real Irish water spaniel one of the hardest 

 animals to procure." 



Further, he says the colour is almost invariably 

 of " a rich liver ; the coat long, curly, and matted ; 

 the head peculiarly long, and almost hidden by long, 

 silky ears, much longer than any English retrievers ; 

 the tail is thin and nearly destitute of hair; and, 

 lastly, the animal stands high on his legs, which are 

 thickly and closely feathered. It unites the sagacity 



