THE BLACK-AND-TAN SETTER 175 



and-tan is a much more prepotent colour than any parti-colour, 

 it is not so much so as the whole colours, black and red. 

 Probably it cannot be produced by breeding these two last- 

 named together. Then facts seem to indicate that the ancestors 

 of our setters were some whole-coloured races or black-and-tan 

 dogs of some wild or domestic kinds. 



After grouse have got wild to a team of light-coloured dogs, 

 some shots may often be had over a black-and-tan setter. 

 Possibly the birds mistake the setter for a collie, and the 

 gunner, if suitably dressed in imitation, for the shepherd. There 

 are occasions when, on the contrary, the grouse are more afraid 

 of the sheep-dog than any other, and this may not always mean 

 that the shepherd, like his dog, is a poacher. 



It has been said that a black-and-tan is a bad colour to see 

 on the moors, but this is not so. No sportsman would use a 

 black coat for shooting, because it is more conspicuous than any 

 other, and what is true of the man's coat is true of the dog's 

 colour. 



