166 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



eliminated from the Irish setter, and if they sometimes do revert, 

 the author would expect the reversions to be more setter-like 

 and less spaniel-like than the present show Irish setters, and to 

 be more like Dr. Stone's Dash and the Kate and Palmerston 

 already mentioned. 



Since writing the above, the author remembers that on one 

 occasion he bred from an Irish dog and a black-and-tan bitch, 

 with the result that the puppies were liver-coloured. Yet when 

 two black-and-tans were bred together thirty-five years ago, there 

 were usually a couple of red puppies in the litter showing neither 

 liver, black, or black tinge, or even dark-red colours. This does 

 not support the theory of a black-and-tan origin of the whole 

 colour. 



The collie-like sense of the Irish setter has been referred to, 

 and a case of the kind may be of interest. In 1873 the author 

 was shooting along the shores of a loch in Inverness-shire, 

 hunting a brace of setters, one of which was a red Irish puppy. 

 A grouse was killed that fell out into the lake, there about a 

 mile wide and several miles long. The dogs dropped to shot, 

 and there lay while the party waited to make sure that the wind 

 would not bring in the grouse, for we had no retriever or any 

 setter that had ever retrieved. It became evident at the end of 

 a few minutes that the grouse was slowly drifting away, and the 

 order was given to continue the beat, leaving the bird to its fate. 

 But the young red setter was no sooner on its legs than it 

 darted straight to the lake, jumped in, swam to the grouse, 

 brought it to land and there dropped it, shook itself, and started 

 to hunt for more live birds. 



That was the first and also the last bird it ever retrieved, 

 although it was constantly encouraged to make further attempts. 

 Of course this looks like reason, but that is questionable. At 

 any rate, it was startlingly smart, and about as unexpected a 

 canine performance as could be conceived. 



Another of the breed was so smart in finding wounded game 

 that he ended as a retriever in Yorkshire grouse driving, and 

 was said to be better than several retrievers, although he never 

 lifted a bird, but merely put a foot on the grouse and waited to 



