LIVER COLOUR IN LAVERACK SETTERS. 367 



of the Laverack blood. The formation of the Laverack Setter, to quote his own words, is as 

 follows : 



" Head long and light, not snake-headed or deep flevved, but a sufficiency of lip ; 

 remarkable for being very strong in the fore-quarters ; chest, deep, wide, and ribs well sprung 

 behind the shoulders, carrying the breadth of back to where the tail is set on ; immensely 

 strong across the loins ; shoulders very slanting or oblique ; particularly short from the 

 shoulders to where the hind-quarters meet. A Setter should not rise or be too upright in 

 the shoulder, but level and broad ; tail well set on in a line with the back, rather drooping, 

 scimitar-shaped, and with plenty of flag. Legs remarkably short, and very short from hock 

 to foot ; feet close and compact, thighs particularly well bent or crooked, well placed and 

 close under the body of the animal, not wide or straggling. 



" Colour black, or blue-and-white ticked ; coat, long, soft, and silky in texture ; eyes, 

 soft, mild, and intelligent, of a dark hazel colour ; ears low set on and close to the head, 

 giving a round development to the skull. There is another variety of the same strain 

 called the lemon-and-white Beltons, exactly the same breed and blood. These are marked 

 similar to the Blues, except being spotted all through with lemon-colour instead of blue, 

 and precisely of the same form and characteristics ; equally good, hardy, and enduring." 



These words of Mr. Edward Laverack must surely be treasured by Setter breeders, 

 and the only unsatisfactory part in them to our mind is the total absence of any allusion 

 to liver-colour. We cannot see how he can reconcile himself to ignore all reference to 

 this liver-colour, since, in the following letter to Mr. Rothwell, an old friend and fellow- 

 breeder, he distinctly admits that there is a strong dash of liver blood in the Laverack Setter. 

 The letter referred to runs as follows : 



[Copy.] " Broughall Cottage, 



" Whitchurch, 



" Shropshire 

 "DEAR ROTHWELL, 



" I am glad to hear your bitch has given birth ; save me a Blue. All five are 



true bred, and all take after the sire, Blue Prince. The liver-and-white will be quite as handsome and good 

 as any. He strains to Prince's sire, viz., Pride of the Border, a liver-and-white ; he strains back for thirty 

 years to a change of blood I once introduced the pure old Edward Castle breed County Cumberland liver- 

 and-white, quite as pure and as good as the Blues. You may have heard Withington speak of the handsomest 

 Setter he ever saw, viz., Pilot ; he was this colour, and a clipper. Pride's dam was my old blue-and-white, 

 with tan cheeks and eyebrows. Why I reserved Pride was to breed back with him and my Blues. He is 



invaluable, as by him I can carry on the breed I have a demand from America for more 



than I can sell, but they are the best, and I guarantee all I send bred by me 



" Yours truly, 



"E. LAVERACK. 

 "May 2yd, 1874." 



There is a possibility that Mr. Laverack, knowingly or otherwise, had introduced some 

 of the blood of the liver-coloured Setters we have above alluded to as being in the 

 neighbourhood of Carlisle. This breed was not a popular one, we understand, and therefore 

 it might not have been worth his while to make a special reference to it. But be this 

 as it may, one thing is very evident from the letter, and that is that Mr. Rothwell, who 



