SPANIELS 197 



It is not of much importance to sportsmen in any case, 

 except that it has a bearing on the whole ancestry of the 

 spaniel. So far as the author knows, whole-coloured liver, 

 according to the records, is not a spaniel colour at all. On 

 the other hand, whole colours were very much appreciated as 

 long ago as 1776, but we do not hear of any except black- 

 and-tan and red dogs that is, of the colour of a "bright 

 chestnut horse." This colour is still to be seen in America, 

 where it is the most common in work, but the author has only 

 heard of it, and never seen it in England. 



It is only natural to suppose that if spaniels and setters 

 were originally the same dog they were also of the same colour, 

 and we hear of no ancient whole liver-coloured race of either 

 sort. There is little doubt that the latter is a modern creation, 

 and the colour is easily produced. If a liver-and-white dog of 

 any breed is crossed with a whole-coloured one of any sort or 

 colour, some of the produce will generally come whole liver- 

 coloured. Therefore, may we not assume that the first liver- 

 coloured setters and spaniels were produced by crossing the 

 black-and-tans or the reds of either breed with the liver-and- 

 white water spaniels? The author has previously stated his 

 belief that colour is greatly indicative of blood. A few years 

 ago there was a race of liver-and-white setters in the North of 

 England, all of which had a top-knot formed of hair longer than 

 the rest, and in one specimen the author noticed a peculiarity 

 distinct from anything noticed in other breeds. It was a ticked 

 liver-and-white in colour, and wherever the hair was of that 

 shade it was also distinctly longer than the white in which it 

 was set, so that the appearance was that of a lot of little tassels. 

 Spaniels that are liver-and-white colour will generally be 

 found to carry more feather on their ears than any others in the 

 same litters, and many of them have curly feather there, when 

 their differently marked brothers and sisters have straight hair 

 to the ear tips. If it is true, therefore, that colour and hair is 

 indicative of blood, we have to believe in either the pointer or 

 the water spaniel cross wherever liver colour is found in setters 

 or spaniels, although the cross may be several centuries old. 



