FAMILIES OF SETTERS. 365 



Ranger, in addition to his Challenge Cup triumphs, has won the following stakes : 

 Reynold Stakes, Shrewsbury, 1874; Champion Cup, Shrewsbury, 1874; Champion Cup, 

 Shrewsbury, 1877 ; Shrewsbury Stakes, 1877 ; Hawkstone Stakes, Shrewsbury, 1873 ; East 

 of England Stakes, Ipswich, 1873; Trehill Stakes, Devon and Cornwall, 1875. Such 

 performances, even unaccompanied by the fact that he has won the Challenge Cup outright, 

 stamp Ranger as undoubtedly the best dog of his breed which has hitherto appeared. 



To recommend the Setter as a companion dog to the non-sporting philo-kuon may be 

 to invite a sneer from many a knight of the trigger, but nevertheless there is much to be 

 said in favour of these dogs in the character of mere companions. There is no more elegant 

 dog than the Setter ; the outlines of a well-formed specimen are eminently beautiful, and his 

 every movement most graceful. The coat is beautifully soft and rich, the featherings especially 

 being of a fine silky texture, and the colours and distribution of them generally striking 

 and picturesque, as they are soft, refined, and lovely. In intelligence the Setter has few 

 equals, so that he soon accommodates himself to circumstances, and is so easy of control 

 that he readily becomes a companion that can be thoroughly trusted, for his intelligence 

 is great, and he seems to think for himself, and make the pleasing of his owner his sole 

 delight. In temper they are almost invariably reliable, and their affections become deep 

 and lasting. And added to all these qualifies there is an air of refinement and superiority 

 about him, inherited from a long line of blue-blooded -ancestors, that commends him to all. 



Those who keep but a few Setters to shoot over themselves should never fail to make 

 friends and constant companions of them ; the mutual understanding and trust arising from 

 this doubles the pleasure of the sportsman in the possession of his dogs, and adds greatly 

 to his success in the field. 



We had Mr. Macdona's Ranger with us whilst Mr. Barber was sketching him, and 

 although we met as strangers we were soon friends, and parted we firmly believe with 

 mutual regret. Never have we seen a dog who so readily accommodated himself to 

 circumstances he seemed at once to be as much at home in London as he is in the 

 stubble or the heather, and took his seat in a hansom cab as naturally as though to the 

 manner born. 



One word of caution only in respect to keeping Setters as companions. We should 

 always advise having them broken to game, although there may be no prospect of using 

 them ; because if unbroken dogs were bred from an unbroken line, whilst their beauty 

 and general intelligence might be sustained, they would lose the aptitude for their natural 

 work. 



As stated at the commencement of this article, it is an unquestionable fact that, whatever 

 the source was from which the modern English Setter sprung, there are several distinct families 

 of the breed at present in existence. But even these are themselves offshoots of older types, 

 which in their turn originated from the Setting dog, either by breeding and selection, or the 

 judicious admixture of foreign blood. It may therefore be as well to draw attention to some 

 of the most famous of the old breeds, as well as make allusion to the most fashionable of 

 the modern ones, before proceeding further with the subject. 



Reference has already been made to the old Welsh Setter, a breed now practically extinct, 

 and whose loss is so greatly to be deplored that supreme efforts should be made to restore 

 it, before all hopes of doing so are vain. Mr. William Lort, of Fron Goch Hall, Montgomery- 

 shire, who has before been quoted in this chapter, has kindly given us some valuable 

 information concerning this variety of Setter, which is in purport as follows : The coat of 



