FOR THE FIELD AND FIELD TRIALS. 275 



good work, or good work from advantageous cir- 

 cumstance, may be entirely incapable of repeating it. 

 A man who cannot discriminate as to class will 

 never make an accurate and sound judge of field 

 trial competition. Where class work is considered, 

 the competition works to a natural and definite con- 

 clusion ; when it is ignored, there may be the absurd 

 spectacle of a low-class dog competing for first at the 

 final of a stake, with dogs of much higher ability left 

 out of the competition. Nor should any dogs of in- 

 ferior quality be taken into a series out of mere com- 

 pliment to their owners. When a dog has shown 

 himself inferior to other dogs, his part in the compe- 

 tition is determined and should be ended. To take 

 an inferior dog into a series to which he is not en- 

 titled on his merits perpetrates a wrong on the other 

 competitors, however much of a compliment it may 

 be to the owner. 



