130 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



merit, and with wonderful length of head and neck. There 

 is no doubt Drake got his quality from here, and for the 

 rest he was descended from the kennels of Lords Sefton, 

 Lichfield, Derby, Mr. Cornwall Leigh, and Mr. Edge, and 

 the Stud Book gives him a Spanish pointer in tail-male. He 

 was a revolution and a revelation in field work, proving for 

 the first time that the utmost care was to be had with racing 

 speed and with the greatest boldness. Perhaps it is wrong 

 to say "was to be had," for all these qualities in a pointer 

 have never quite been collected in one individual since. 

 Only one son of Drake that the writer saw had any pretence 

 to his sire's speed, and that one appeared to have no nose 

 whatever; whereas Drake was as phenomenal for nose as for 

 care, speed, and boldness. If there was any foxhound in this 

 fine liver-and-white dog, it must have been very cleverly bred 

 out. On the other hand, his small counterpart Romp, of 

 the blue mottled colour with tan on her legs, might have 

 suggested hound, but not foxhound, as much as setter, by 

 her colour. 



On the evidence, the author is inclined to suggest that these 

 two wonderful animals owe their vigour and unique qualities to 

 a not very remote cross of blood. We have it that Drake's 

 paternal grandsire was a Spanish pointer, and we have Romp's 

 appearance and colour to declare her no pure bred pointer. 



The next best performers of the period, but with a great gap 

 between, were Mr. Lloyd Price's Belle, bred by Lord Henry 

 Bentinck, but without pedigree given, and Mr. Sam Price's 

 Bang. The author is not certain whether the general opinion 

 is that Mr. Sam Price went to the foxhound, and that Bang 

 owed his substance and character to the cross, but he was 

 certainly different in type from those other Devonshire pointers, 

 Sancho and Chang, that won on the show bench about the same 

 period, and were entirely pointer-like. 



Without in any way insisting upon the origins of the different 

 types and colours above described, there is no doubt that some 

 difference of ancestry at a remote or recent period has been 

 responsible for the characteristics. Consequently, for practical 



