172 THE COMPLETE SHOT 



cross of blood. Four years later, Duke was sire, or grandsire, 

 of the winners of first, second, third, and fourth, at the National 

 Field Trials, and the black-and-tans had practically ceased 

 competition at those events. 



The author may say of black-and-tans, as he has of the 

 red Irish setters, that he never saw a great dog of the breed, 

 although he has seen many good ones. Probably the best that 

 ever ran in public was Mr. Sharp's Stylish Ranger, but he would 

 not have beaten the 1870 brigade on anything but breaking, 

 or rather handiness; for Mr. Sharp could put him anywhere 

 by a wave of the finger. It is probable that there are better 

 black-and-tan setters kept in Scotch kennels for work than 

 those which go to dog shows, and since Ranger's withdrawal 

 and exportation they have ceased again to appear at field trials. 



They have been too long bred without back ribs, with light 

 loins, with clumsy shoulders and big heads, to induce the belief 

 that by selection they can be improved. But they might be 

 placed on a much superior level by means of a cross and 

 selection afterwards. Mr. Sharp's celebrity was bred by Mr. 

 Chapman, who is, or was, a dog-show man. It is necessary 

 to say this in order to be quite fair to dog shows ; but any 

 attempt to improve the breed by crossing would be most likely 

 to succeed by a cross on a base of black-and-tan setter that had 

 been kept for several generations for work only. The show 

 points valued for this breed are really not setter points at all. 

 In considering the possibility of improving, it is always neces- 

 sary to know the history of a breed, and that of the black-and- 

 tan is undoubtedly indicated above. There is evidence in Mr. 

 Thomson Gray's Dogs of Scotland, published in 1891, to show 

 that the origin of the Gordon setters was as suggested above 

 that is to say, black-and-tan and lemon- or red- and-white, just 

 what the old Suffolk sportsman said of English setters fifty 

 years before he wrote in 1775. Mr. Gray says there were also 

 black -white-and-tans and liver-and-white dogs. 



But the " Gordon setter " never meant what those setters 

 originated from, but, on the contrary, what they became under 

 the last Duke of Gordon, and this we have ample evidence, 



