THE COLOUR OF THE GORDON SETTER. 379 



number was not the entire stud, and that many other members of it were otherwise disposed 

 of and dispersed throughout the country. 



Having thus alluded to the reputed origin of this breed, and endeavoured to direct attention 

 to its monetary value forty-four years ago, we find ourselves face to face with the burning 

 question in connection with the Gordon Setter its original colour. In every correspondence 

 in connection with this breed, the writers who have addressed the sporting public through the 

 Press have drawn attention to this subject ; but still the matter has not, in the opinion of 

 many, been finally settled. It would seem, however, from the colours given above, that by 

 far the largest proportion of the Duke's dogs were wanting in any tan at all, and were simply 

 black-and-white. On considering this, the question arises in our mind whether only those 

 possessing tan were the descendants of the Sheep-dog cross which had been introduced into 

 the strain some twelve years before the date of the sale. We learn from Gervase Markham's 

 " Hunger's Prevention " that at the time of his writing his work, in the early part of the 

 seventeenth century, " some had beene curious in observing of their (the Setting dog) colours 

 as giving preheminence to the motley, the liver-hude, or the blacke and white spotted." It is, 

 therefore, we may assume, within the bounds of probability that the original Gordon strain, 

 before the introduction of the Collie cross, were descendants of the " blacke and white dogs " 

 of Gervase Markham's time, and that, therefore, the now popular golden-tan of the Gordon 

 Setter is in reality but a proof of a decided cross of Sheep-dog blood. The late Mr. Dixon, 

 who wrote under the noin de plume of " The Druid," is positive in deciding that " originally 

 the Gordon Setters were all black-and-tan, and Lord F. G. Halliburton's Sweep, Admiral 

 Wemyss's Pilot, Major Douglas's Racket, Lord Breadalbane's Tom, and other great craftsmen 

 of the breed of that colour. Now all the Setters in the Castle kennel are entirely black- 

 white-and-tan, with a little tan on the toes, muzzle, root of the tail, and round the eyes. 

 The late Duke of Gordon liked it: it was gayer, and not so difficult to back on the hill- 

 side as the dark coloured The composite colour was produced by using black- 

 and-tan dogs to black-and-white bitches." 



Mr. Laverack corroborates this statement of " The Druid's " to a very great extent, for 

 he writes : 



"Two years after the decease of Alexander Duke of Gordon I went to Gordon Castle 

 purposely to see the breed of Setters. In an interview with Jubb, the keeper, he showed me 

 three black-tans, the only ones left, and which I thought nothing of. Some years after, 

 when I rented on lease the Cabrach shootings, Banffshire, belonging to the Duke of Richmond, 

 adjoining Glenfiddich, where his Grace shot, I often saw Jubb and his Setters; then, and now, 

 all the Gordon Castle Setters -were black-white-and-tan." 



Here is the distinct evidence of a gentleman whose exertions in favour of Setters and 

 whose knowledge of the breed are admitted by every person interested in canine matters; 

 and from what he writes, and from what other equally eminent authorities have written, it is 

 proved almost beyond contradiction that white is a permissible colour in the Gordon Castle 

 kennel. From what "The Druid" has said, however, it would appear that the presence of 

 white having been at one time considered by the head of the establishment to be an 

 attraction, special efforts were made to retain it in the strain at the Castle, and that more 

 of it is consequently to be found there than would otherwise have been the case. We 



