144 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



breds defeated all comers. This dog was called " Mohawk," 

 and in the same kennel was another setter named " Tony Man." 

 The latter had a slight trace of outside blood, but the 

 two were almost identical to look at. Tony Man had just 

 previously beaten Mohawk, and won the stake of the United 

 States Field Trial Club in first-rate style. But the trace of 

 outside blood was so very much regarded by the American 

 sportsmen that the author heard Tony Man offered for sale at 

 ,200, whereas he was assured on independent evidence again 

 and again that Mohawk could easily earn 500 a year at the 

 stud. This great difference is caused not at all by any great 

 difference in the prospective merits of the descendants of the 

 two dogs, but merely by the fact that those of one can be 

 registered as "straight-bred," and those of the other cannot. 

 The book of reference is The A merican Fields Stud Book, where 

 those with any cross whatever are registered as English setters, 

 and the others as " Llewellin setters." These straight-bred ones 

 trace on all sides to seven dogs bred in the sixties of last 

 century namely, Mr. Laverack's Dash II., his Fred, and his 

 Moll III., Mr. Blinkhorn's Lill I., Mr. Thomas Statter's Rhoebe, 

 Sir F. Graham's Duke, and Sir Vincent Corbet's Slut. 



That a breed should have lasted without cross for so long, 

 and now be as full of vitality as ever it was, can only be 

 accounted for by the intensely searching selection of the fittest 

 for work, in a manner that tries constitution as well. In 

 America they have from thirty-five to forty field trials each year ; 

 the best and severest is the Champion Stake, and wisely the 

 winners of this event are bred from to the exclusion of most 

 others. To have won the stake is to have proved ability to 

 hunt at an extreme tension for three hours without slackening 

 up. That is to finish much faster than the average of fast dogs 

 start when fresh in the morning. The only falling off that the 

 author could discover, compared with the great dogs in England 

 of the seventies and eighties, was the want of size of the best 

 dogs there. Mohawk measured by the author under 21 inches 

 at the shoulder. There are many large dogs of the blood out 

 there, but they are not those of the most vitality, although they 



