CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE BLACK FIELD SPANIEL. 



IF the black spaniel, as seen at our modern shows, 

 can be taken as a distinct variety and I think that 

 it can we must consider him as a comparatively 

 recent introduction. None of the old writers men- 

 tion him, nor have old artists drawn him. It may 

 be safely said that he is bred for show purposes 

 alone his sleek, silken coat, glossy and bright even 

 as the sheen on the raven's wing, making him a 

 most attractive creature as an ornament. For 

 actual hard work and use in the field he has many 

 superiors. As a fact, such dogs as gain the chief 

 prizes on our show benches are kept for that purpose 

 alone. They are brushed and groomed metho- 

 dically and with as much regularity as a maiden 

 will attend to her own toilet. A ramble in the rain, 

 or a gallop in the fields, a scurry after the rabbits in 

 the covert, are not the part and parcel of the educa- 

 tion of the black spaniel, at any rate during that 

 time of life he is in his prime, when mooning and 



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