THE BLACK-AND-TAN SETTER 169 



Beauly pools, that the same good sportsman rendered for ever 

 famous by his wonderful kills of salmon. 



It was an article of faith at Beaufort, where the kennel book 

 had been kept up since the end of the eighteenth century, that 

 the old Duke's Gordon setters and their own living setters were 

 identical in blood and appearance. They were bred together, 

 and after the Duke's death this inter-breeding was kept up 

 between Lord Lovat's and the other kennels which had the 

 blood. One of the principal of these was that of Lord Rosslyn, 

 in Fifeshire. But for some time this latter exchange of blood 

 had been dropped, because Lord Rosslyn's dogs had been 

 crossed with the bloodhound to get nose, or so Bruce told the 

 author. 



What it did get was colour that is, a bright black-and-tan 

 without white ; whereas those dogs that were black-and-tan in 

 the Lovat kennel had white feet and fronts, but a very large 

 majority had body white as well. At that period those black- 

 and-tan setters that went to the shows were of two distinct 

 types : one lot were light-made, active dogs, and the other, in- 

 cluding the descendants of Rev. T. Pearce's Kent and those of 

 Lord Rosslyn's blood, were very heavy in formation. Kent 

 either had no pedigree or a doubtful one, but was all the fashion, 

 and whereas a first cross with him was of benefit, in-breeding 

 on all sides to him has rendered the black-and-tans of to-day 

 lumbering, and so constitutionally weak that the exhibitors 

 have been unable to keep the breed going, although they have 

 neglected to demand working ability in favour of the points 

 they adore. In the sixties and early seventies the Rev. Mr. 

 Hutchinson, of Malmesbury, wrote a good deal about the lighter 

 strain of black-and-tan setters which he and the late Sir Fred 

 Milbank had constantly used together in the Lews. The 

 author tried these dogs, and although they were certainly built 

 for racing, they unfortunately could not race. Their breeder 

 believed nothing could live with them, but when they came to 

 be measured with others (and that is the only way to be sure) 

 they were not better in speed than the heavy Kent and Rosslyn 

 dogs, and not a patch upon the best Irish setters, which, again, 



