The Irish Water Spaniel. 415 



field spaniel more popular than the water spaniel is 

 its size ; a 45lb. field spaniel can place himself 

 without difficulty out of the way in a boat or dog- 

 cart, but not so the bigger Irishman. 



" Perhaps the most prominent breeder, certainly 

 the most successful exhibitor of Irish water spaniels 

 since the history of dog shows, is Mr. J. S. Skidmore, 

 of Nantwich, who claims for this variety of spaniel 

 a position as the most useful dog for the sports- 

 man of limited means. Now, much as I respect this 

 gentleman's views as to what a typical Irish water 

 spaniel should be like, I cannot agree with him on 

 this point. I regard the ordinary retriever or a fair- 

 sized reasonably constructed field spaniel a much 

 more useful dog. Let us take, for instance, an old 

 cock pheasant, winged, in only a reasonable covert, 

 and I should like to ask Mr. Skidmore what he 

 thinks such specimens as some of his typical Irish 

 water spaniels, measuring nearly a yard I believe 

 some of them measured over 30 inches from tip to 

 tip of ears, would do with a winged pheasant under 

 such circumstances ; or say a winged partridge in a 

 ditch on a farm where high cultivation is unknown ; 

 in a dyke in which the undergrowth has not been 

 touched for a dozen years. 



" Again, in many specimens the coat is woolly in 

 texture and too open and long ; such a coat will 



