The Black Field Spaniel. 469 



bitch, Nellie, Mr. P. Bullock used to show when he 

 resided near Bilston. Afterwards she passed into 

 the hands of Captain Arbuthnot, of Montrose. 

 Nellie was simply perfect in her line, sweet in ex- 

 pression, lovely in size and hang of ears, straight 

 in coat (not so flat as that of to-day), active and 

 smart, not too heavy in bone, short on leg, or long in 

 back, and, from her appearance, would have been a 

 lovely bitch to shoot over. Her weight I would 

 take to be about 35lb. She was by Young Bob out 

 of Flirt, and, through the latter, went back to Mr. F. 

 Burdett's old strain, which, indeed, is found more or 

 less in all the best spaniel blood of to-day. 



Mr. Burdett had been the secretary of the earlier 

 Birmingham shows, and his spaniels, which seldom 

 went over about 3olb. weight or so, he had originally 

 from a Mr. Footman, who lived near Lutterworth in 

 Leicestershire. After the death of Mr. Burdett, the 

 strain went into the hands of Mr. Jones, of Oscott, 

 Mr. P. Bullock, a".d others, and that it proved 

 extremely valuable the stud books attest. It crossed 

 well into other strains of whatever colour, and from 

 them our field spaniels are what they are now, 

 excepting that the real Sussex has been kept as 

 free from the black blood as possible. 



Following Messrs. Burdett, Bullock, and others, 

 came Mr. H. B. Spurgin, of Northampton ; Mr. W. 



